STA, 8 March 2020 - Slovenia is far from having a coronavirus epidemic, Nina Pirnat, director of the National Public Health Institute, said on Sunday, expressing hope that the protective measures will prevent it. The number of the coronavirus infections in the country has meanwhile risen to 16.
Asked about closing down schools, Pirnat said this would be a disproportionate measure at the moment and that the main measure in Slovenia and most neighbouring countries was still hygiene.
Health Minister Aleš Šabeder noted that several violations of the ban on large indoor public events which was issued yesterday had been reported. The ban aimed at preventing further spreading of the virus entered into force at 7pm last night.
"We were notified today that several facilities were opened last night despite the ban. We will check if sanctions are envisaged for this. If there are not, we will make amendments," he said.
He said the organisers of indoor events were acting irresponsibly, and called on all citizens and institutions to strictly honour the ban. "This will create economic damage but the priority is protecting the people," he said.
The authorities are also checking reports that some Italian-based companies which have closed their production are sending their workers to their Slovenian subsidiaries.
Šabeder said he had talked about this with Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek, and that the pair had agreed certain measures would need to be taken.
Šabeder will also talk on the phone with his Austrian counterpart later this evening to discuss Austria's measure to prevent the spreading of the disease, and possible joint measures.
The outgoing prime minister, Marjan Šarec, has called a session of the National Security Council for Monday. "We will get acquainted with the events so far," she said, rejecting criticism that such a meeting should have been called earlier. "We called the meeting when we assessed the time is right."
Šarec said the Ministry of Health could declare an epidemic if necessary without the National Security Council. "None of the neighbouring countries has closed schools yet. It is important that we take corresponding measures. Only Italy has taken such measures so far," he said.
The outgoing PM called on all citizens, especially medical staff, not to go on non-urgent trips abroad, especially not to Italy.
The Foreign Ministry advised Slovenians on Friday to postpone any non-urgent trips, while the Metlika area in the east of the country, where an infected doctor had contact with a large number of people, citizens have been advised to avoid any kind of gatherings, including private ones.
Officials said today the measures for Metlika remained in place and that no stricter measures were required for the time being.
Šarec said that after preliminary information from Metlika it was feared that an epidemic would be declared for the area but the National Public Health Institute assessed this was not the case.
The number of confirmed coronavirus infections has meanwhile risen by four to 16 since Saturday evening. By 2pm today, 981 tests were conducted.
According to media reports, the newly infected persons are a rescuer and two nurses from the Metlika area, who had been in contact with the infected doctor there, and a 31-year-old woman from the coast, who got ill while in Switzerland.
Keep up with the news on coronavirus and Slovenia here
