STA, 22 January 2021 - The epidemiological curve continues to flatten in Slovenia, as 1,439 new coronavirus cases were confirmed in 11,149 PCR and rapid tests on Thursday, a slight decrease both on the day before and in weekly comparison. Another 25 deaths were recorded, according to fresh government data.
A total of 1,140 Covid-19 patients were hospitalised, 19 fewer than the day before, while 185 were in intensive care, two more than the day before. 95 patients recovered and were discharged from hospital, the same as the day before, while 25 patients died, two fewer than on Wednesday.
21 persons died in hospitals and four in care homes, said government Covid-19 spokesperson Maja Bratuša. Slovenia's death toll currently stands at 3,309.
Out of the 4,872 PCR tests 22.9% came back positive, while the share of positive tests among the 6,277 rapid tests was 5.2%. The share of positive PCR tests was down compared to Wednesday when it stood at 24.2%, while the positivity rate for rapid tests was up from 4.1% on Wednesday.
Over the last seven days 407 people per 100,000 citizens became infected, which is down from 424 on Wednesday, said Bratuša.
The 14-day incidence per 100,000 residents has fallen to 893, with central Slovenia having the lowest figure for the first time, at 777.
In Ljubljana, 119 new infections were confirmed on Thursday, and 55 in Maribor.
The seven-day average of new daily cases decreased slightly to 1,220, show data released by the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ).
The latest figures bring the total number of confirmed infections in the country since the start of the epidemic to 155,752, according to the NIJZ, which estimates that 18,908 of them are currently active.
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Slovenian contact tracing app upgraded with many new features
STA, 22 January 2021 - The Slovenian Covid-19 contact tracing app on mobile devices, launched by the Public Administration Ministry last summer as a measure to contain the spread of coronavirus, has been upgraded to include many new features, including cross-border exchange of tracing keys.
The upgraded #OstaniZdrav (#StayWell) app is available as of Friday for Android devices, and it is expected to be available for Apple devices in a few days at the latest.
Those who already have the app will need to upgrade it if their devices do not upgrade applications automatically, the ministry said, adding that the new app had many new features.
Minister Boštjan Koritnik, who has himself been infected with coronavirus recently, said that the app was very useful, even though it had turned out in his case that it could not prevent infection.
Among other things, the upgraded version enables cross-border exchange of tracing keys, entry of the date when Covid-19 symptoms appeared and, unlike the original German app, the new intermediate orange level of risk.
Koritnik added that the upgraded app also featured a link to a guide in sign language, while it would also update the situation more frequently - six times in 24 hours, and not only once a day as it has so far.
Also added to the app is a link to the e-Administration portal so that users can acquire quarantine orders, and a link to the online form for getting assigned a 10-digit tracing codes for users who tested positive.
"Epidemiologists are sometimes not able to call in time and provide codes, and this option does not even exist in rapid tests. For this reason codes may from now on be obtained via the shortcut that takes you to the website of the National Public Health Institute," said State Secretary Peter Geršak.
If the positive test is already in the database, users may get a code by SMS after entering their information, he added.
Geršak noted that the cross-border exchange of tracing keys would enable the use of the app abroad without the need to download the national app of the foreign country.
An EU-level server has been established for the exchange of data from the national apps and their back end systems, so that risk levels could be calculated, he added.
The state secretary said that this interoperability feature would be enabled in Slovenia in a week to ten days.
Once they open the app, the users will see only Slovenia in the cross-border section, but the other EU member states participating in the data exchange will be gradually added.
The ministry reiterated that the app alone did not protect people from getting infected with coronavirus, and that it was just another accessory in the fight against the epidemic.
Almost 370,000 owners of mobile devices in Slovenia have so far downloaded the app, which is more than a quarter of the active population in the country, the latest data show.
The ministry noted that not every person who gets infected enters the code in their application, either because they do not receive it, do not know how to enter it, or simply do not want to enter it and inform others about their condition.
