STA – 8 December 2020 - A record 66 Covid-19 patients died in Slovenia on Monday as 1,627 new coronavirus cases were confirmed, up by more than a quarter from the week before. The positivity rate stood at 26.4%, one percentage point down compared to Sunday, government data show.
The number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals was up by three to 1,304 on Monday, of whom 193 required intensive care, three fewer than on Sunday.
A total of 86 patients were discharged from hospital, or 42 more than on the day before.
Much like in recent days, elderly homes accounted for roughly a fifth of new cases, with 223 infections confirmed in residents and 61 in staff, according to Jelko Kacin, the government's Covid-19 spokesman.
According to the national tracker Covid-19 Sledilnik, a total of 87,915 coronavirus infections have been confirmed in Slovenia so far, while the death toll stands at 1,862.
The number of active infections is currently 20,813, according to Sledilnik, whose data show that the figure has barely changed in a month and has even increased slightly in recent days.
Hospitals have been operating at the limit of capacity for weeks and Matjaž Vogrin, the medical director of UKC Maribor, said staff were exhausted.
The hospital has around 3,000 employees and almost 900 are currently on sick leave, many because of burnout. Roughly 300 are home after contracting Covid-19 or because they are quarantining.
"Health staff at all hospitals and other health institutions in Slovenia is on the verge of exhaustion," he told the press today.
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