All our stories on coronavirus are here, while those covering covid-19 and Croatia are here. We'll have an update at the end of the day, and if you want newsflashes then we'll post those on Facebook

We can’t have pictures of COVID-19 every day. So instead we’ll try and show the works of Slovenian artists. Today it’s Maruša Štibelj. You can see more of her work here.

Contents

Nine new coronavirus infections, two new deaths bring death toll to 79

Large companies largely opting for Covid-19 crisis bonus

State to guarantee up to 80% for loans to SMEs, 70% for large companies

Protective equipment apparently stolen from Ljubljana hospital

Covid-19 pushes consumer sentiment lowest on record

Nine new coronavirus infections, two new deaths bring death toll to 79

STA, 22 April - Nine new coronavirus infections were recorded in Slovenia on Tuesday, the same as on Monday, with the number of tests the highest so far, at 1,459, government data show. So far 1,353 infections have been confirmed. Both the number of hospitalised patients and patients in intensive care continues to drop.

The number of deaths rose by two to 79 on Tuesday.

The number of hospitalised patients has been decreasing for a week and now stands at 82, while 24 patients are in intensive care. Eight were released home on Tuesday.

A total of 44,435 tests have been conducted in Slovenia so far.

Among the infected, 159 are medical staff, and 291 residents of care homes, fresh data from the government show.

So far, 326 Covid-19 patients have been admitted to hospital and 210 released home.

The UKC Ljubljana hospital has 34 Covid-19 patients today, UKC Maribor 28, the Celje general hospital 13 and the Golnik hospital seven.

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Large companies largely opting for Covid-19 crisis bonus

STA, 22 April 2020 - Some large companies have already paid their employees a bonus for working during the coronavirus crisis, with others yet to do so. Some will pay the bonus as set down by the government emergency law, others their own one, while some companies have opted for both, they have told the STA.

Pharmaceutical companies Krka and Novartis have not suspended their operations during the epidemic so they plan no pay or staff cuts and will not ask for state aid for idle workers.

All Krka employees who have been working during the crisis and will work until the end of April will receive a 10% performance bonus on top of their monthly pay, or at least EUR 326 gross for a full working month.

Krka supervisors will meanwhile donate 30% of their fees to those in need in their local community.

Tool maker Unior will pay all of its employees a crisis bonus as set down by the Covid-19 emergency law, while its management will not receive performance bonuses for the 2019 business year.

Similarly, home appliance maker Gorenje, which owned by China's Hisense, will pay out a crisis bonus under the emergency legislation.

The bonus will be calculated on the basis of hourly rates for work in April and May, or EUR 200 for a full working month.

Pay at Gorenje has not been cut, not even for managers, which the company however mentioned as an option for the future.

At the NLB bank, members of the management and supervisory boards will have their pay cut by 15% until the end of the year and will not get performance bonuses. Other high-profile professionals at the bank will see their pay cut by 10% during the epidemic.

Part of the money saved there will be redistributed among the NLB employees who have for various reasons been sent home during the crisis. These idle workers will receive a wage compensation in the amount of 85% of their average pay from the last three months.

Although banks and insurance companies are not obliged to pay out a crisis bonus under the emergency legislation, NLB employees working during the crisis will receive one.

Retailer Mercator workers have already received a 30% crisis bonus for March. The crisis bonus under the emergency law will however be paid with the April salary, meaning in May, for both March and April.

Despite a 50% drop in its sales, energy company and fuel trader Petrol has paid out its own crisis bonus to the workers most at risk during the epidemic.

The Petrol management meanwhile cut its salary by 20%, heads of departments saw their salaries reduced by 10% and other employees by around 5%. The measure will stay in place until the end of May, but could be extended.

National telco Telekom Slovenije has not cut pay, saying its employees were extremely busy providing uninterrupted services during the epidemic.

Some 70-80% of its employees have been working from home, and those under the most stress received a special bonus for difficult working conditions.

Port operator Luka Koper will pay a crisis bonus for March and April in May, with a decision to cut executive pay expected in the coming days.

HSE, the group bringing together several electricity producers, will pay out the crisis bonus in line with the emergency legislation.

Its management has not cut its pay, saying it is already some 15% lower than it could be under the law on management pay in state-owned companies.

State to guarantee up to 80% for loans to SMEs, 70% for large companies

STA, 22 April 2020 - As part of the second stimulus package to help the Slovenian economy cope with the coronavirus epidemic, the state will provide quick liquidity aid to companies to the tune of EUR 2 billion. Loans to micro companies and SMEs will be guaranteed for up to 80% of the principal, and up to 70% for large companies.

Parts of the corrections to the first package and of the second package were presented on Wednesday by the head of the advisory task force Matej Lahovnik, who said that in the second package, the government "aims for quick liquidity aid to the economy."

Pointing to the loan guarantees, he said that the amount was limited to 10% of annual revenue or labour costs, with an additional condition being that the company must participate in the settlement of claims.

"By doing so, they assume a large part of the risk. We count that commercial banks will provide fast and effective liquidity aid," Lahovnik said, adding that the government would create a guarantee scheme modelled after Germany.

As for the adjustments of the first package, he said that subsidies for wages and social security contributions for workers on temporary lay-off would apply for companies whose annual turnover was down by 10% compared to the pre-crisis period.

Lahovnik noted that potential beneficiaries should be aware that the fiscal space was not unlimited and that this was state aid to the economy financed by taxpayers, which would have to be refunded at some point in the future.

"The aid is intended for companies who have found themselves in trouble due to the crisis, and is not aid intended for those who had been in trouble earlier," he stressed.

The advisory task force also recommends that production and services should be relaunched as soon as possible while sticking to the health protection protocols.

Lahovnik notes that Germany, for instance, was putting an emphasis on work from home, time corridors, same workers working in same shifts, safety distance and use of protective equipment. "Slovenia will have to implement these measures."

He also proposed subsidies for shortened working time under the German and Austrian model, noting that funds at the EU level were also available for such a measure.

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Protective equipment apparently stolen from Ljubljana hospital

STA, 22 April 2020 - The police are investigating a suspected theft of protective equipment in the UKC Ljubljana hospital. Two persons have been detained, the police told the STA on Wednesday, revealing no further details. UKC Ljubljana general manager Janez Poklukar has condemned the incident.

Slovenia's largest hospital reported the alleged robbery in mid-April, said the Ljubljana Police Department, adding that it has since conducted two house searches at properties of the detained persons. Since the investigation is ongoing, the police cannot divulge any additional information.

Prior to the police statement, UKC Ljubljana published a press release saying that the hospital "has detected deviations from safety equipment" quota and immediately notified the police of the situation. It has also ordered an emergency inventory of personal protective equipment.

The 24ur.com web portal has reported that the suspects had been stealing UKC supplies and then selling them online.

The hospital, which is currently treating 34 Covid-19 patients, finds it regrettable that the epidemic has been exploited for profiteering, however it hopes that would not leave a mark on its efforts during the crisis, the press release reads.

Poklukar deplored the incident, pledging that UKC Ljubljana "would do anything to protect its employees, reputation and patients". He did not want to comment on whether the staff was among the suspects.

Meanwhile, Slovenia continues to see a number of donations coming in - pharmaceutical company Bayer has donated EUR 40,000 to the country for mitigating the ramifications of the epidemic as well as 1,200 protective masks and several hundred gloves to three healthcare organisations in Slovenia. Moreover, the Addiko bank has given 13,000 face masks to 13 care homes.

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Covid-19 pushes consumer sentiment lowest on record

STA, 22 April 2020 - Slovenia recorded the biggest drop in consumer sentiment in April since March 1996, when the statisticians started keeping record, the Statistics Office said on Wednesday. The index dropped by 30 percentage points in monthly comparison and by 41 points year on year, which statisticians attribute to the coronavirus epidemic.

All four components of the index deteriorated in April compared to March. Consumers' expectations about the financial situation in their households were down by 30 percentage points and the expectations about the economic situation in the country by 41 points.

Consumers were also pessimistic about the number of unemployed (down 39 points) and about the prospects for savings (down by 13 points).

In annual comparison, consumer sentiment deteriorated mainly because of less optimistic expectations about the number of the unemployed and about the economic situation in the country (down by 59 points each).

People's expectations about the financial situation in their households and prospects for savings were also down, by 34 and 11 points, respectively.

Expectations about the ability to buy a car, build or purchase a flat, and the ability to renovate it, which are measured only every three months, were also down in April, by 12, 6 and 15 points, respectively.

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All our stories on coronavirus are here, while those covering covid-19 and Croatia are here. We'll have an update at the end of the day, and if you want newsflashes then we'll post those on Facebook

We can’t have pictures of COVID-19 every day. So instead we’ll try and show the works of Slovenian artists. Today it’s Aleksander Sandi. You can see more of his work here.

Contents

Coronavirus case count up by nine, no new fatalities

Two new checkpoints open on border with Italy

Committee hears care homes understaffed, residents very stressed

Taiwan donates 150,000 masks

PPE supplies a major headache for authorities

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Coronavirus case count up by nine, no new fatalities

STA, 21 April - Slovenia's official tally of coronavirus cases rose by nine on Monday, bringing the total number of cases so far confirmed to 1,344. No new fatalities have been reported, leaving the death toll unchanged at 77.

Fresh data from the government show that 87 Covid-19 patients were in hospital on Monday, the lowest number since 24 March. Of those, 25 were treated in intensive care, the lowest figure since 29 March.

Four more people have been discharged from hospital, which means 197 Covid-19 patients have so far returned home from hospital.

A total of 1,174 tests were performed on Monday, more than twice as many as the day before. Hence the increase in the number of new cases compared to five on Sunday.

So far a total of 42,976 tests have been conducted in the country.

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Two new checkpoints open on border with Italy

STA, 21 April - While the majority of roads on the border between Slovenia and Italy remain blocked to contain the spread of coronavirus, a new entry point, Predel, opened on Tuesday. Citizens can cross the border using a special certificate. Another border check point will be set up at Rateče on Wednesday.

Both points, facilitating daily migrations between Italy and Slovenia, will be open on all days except Sundays and holidays, from 6am to 9am and from 3pm to 6pm. Outside those time slots, the roads will be blocked.

The authorities have thus responded to the calls for a partial reopening of the border to enable daily cross-border migrations in the north-west of Slovenia, which had been issued by local communities and mayors of both Bovec and Kranjska Gora.

So far, the closest check point between Italy and Slovenia has been Robič, situated more than 30 kilometres from Bovec.

Apart from daily migrants, other citizens in need of taking care of urgent business activities can also cross the border provided they have ID and the relevant permit, which is issued by a local authority.

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Committee hears care homes understaffed, residents very stressed

STA, 21 April - The parliamentary Health Committee started debating the situation in nursing homes, which has become very complex in the face of the Covid-19 epidemic. The session, requested by the opposition Left, heard demands for more staff from trade unions and care home organisations before being suspended until tomorrow.

 The hours-long discussion heard that care homes are understaffed, while most residents are completely dependent on others' help. The debate also heard that the average age of employees is high and that many residents suffer severe stress because they had been cut off from their families for more than a month.

The understaffing issues became more severe after schools were shut down because the care homes lost students and interns, and volunteers also had to leave due to the shortage of protective equipment. Family members were also of great help, said Biserka Marolt Meden, head of Srebrna Nit, an association promoting dignified old age.

Marolt Meden said that it was up to the Health Ministry to change things. Health Minister Tomaž Gantar admitted that the situation was critical after years of understaffing and lack of funds, but said the ministry was doing everything it could.

He denied allegations that residents do not get appropriate care. "Entire homes cannot be moved to hospitals. Patients who need hospital care are moved," he said in response to the Left's demand that all retirement home residents with Covid-19 be hospitalised.

He was also critical of Tomislav Nemec, the director of the Ljutomer retirement home, which has been hit the worst of all. Gantar said the home did not ban visitors in time, while the nearby Murska Sobota hospital had complained that Nemec was impossible to work with.

Alenka Trop Skaza of the Celje office of the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) said that apart from work overload issues for staff, many residents suffer severe stress because they had not seen their families in weeks.

"The elderly cannot understand why their families do not come and visit," she said, describing a case in which the staff could only just prevent a suicide. Moreover, dementia patients in retirement are in great stress when they need to be swabbed for Covid-19 testing.

The committee will convene again tomorrow afternoon to vote on several resolutions proposed by the Left. Apart from hospitalisation of all Covid-19 patients in retirement homes, the party also wants an increased volume of testing for residents and more funds for retirement homes in general.

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Taiwan donates 150,000 masks

STA, 21 April - Taiwan has donated 150,000 surgical masks to Slovenia. The donation was handed over to Slovenia's Civil Protection in Austria's Vienna on Tuesday by Taiwan's representation in Austria. The Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief thanked Taiwan in a tweet.

At the beginning of the month, Taiwan donated ten million protective masks to the countries hit hardest by the global coronavirus pandemic. Soon after, it said it would donate another six million masks to countries in northern, central and southern Europe.

Taiwan's representative in Vienna Vanessa Shih said that the pandemic is affecting all countries in the world and that her country wants to help its friends.

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PPE supplies a major headache for authorities

STA, 21 April - The government coronavirus spokesman Jelko Kacin has announced measures to deal with the problem of faulty supplies of personal protective equipment (PPE) as criticism is mounting among opposition parties and the public.

 The issue was discussed at the coronavirus press briefing on Tuesday following news reports questioning the cost and suitability of supplies, and alleged ties between suppliers and government officials.

Kacin said that the government would provide explanations about concrete measures to prevent errors in the coming days.

Meanwhile, Srečko Šestan, Slovenia's Civil Protection commander, said the equipment that the recipients were unhappy with was being replaced and their complaints were being addressed.

Representatives of the Civil Protection and Disaster Relief Administration and the UKC Ljubljana hospital are involved in the examination of the bids made by PPE suppliers.

They check the goods offered, supply terms and whether the equipment has all the required certificates. If the offered goods are suitable on paper, the bids are referred to the Agency for Commodity Reserves.

The agency is responsible for closing the contracts, price negotiations and for examining the quality and quantity of the supplies. The Civil Protection does not check the goods again but only accepts the supplies and distributes them.

"Once the equipment has been supplied and if the mask offered was FFP2, but what actually arrives is a surgical mask, this is a matter of receipt and complaint," said Šestan.

Most of the problems so far have involved the supplied equipment not complying with what has been ordered or offered.

Such a problem appears to have been in the case of the supply by Public Digital Infrastructure, a company owned by the gaming machines businessman Joc Pečečnik.

The Agency for Commodity Reserves had ordered FFP2-type masks from him, but the newspaper Dnevnik and commercial broadcaster POP TV reported the company actually supplied mislabelled ordinary surgical masks.

Šestan also noted complaints over unsuitable protective gowns supplied to the Šmarje pri Jelšah care home and Izola hospital, and ordinary paper napkin masks turned back by some local communities.

"Today we're being returned a shipment of 2,500 masks from the Begunje psychiatric hospital which we're going to replace," said the official.

If the returned equipment is found to be faulty, it will "probably be destroyed", if it proves suitable, it will be sent back.

A meeting over the issue of complaints was planned today with the Agency for Commodity Reserves, and extra experts are being sought to help them examine hundreds of bids for new supplies.

Police paid a visit to the agency today over suspicion of irregularities regarding PPE deals, explaining they were "checking various pieces of information".

It is not clear however whether the government dismissed the agency's director Anton Zakrajšek, but Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek is to speak about it after the government's session later today.

PPE supplies have been causing problems from the start as a major planned supply failed to arrive, with new incidents reported almost on a daily basis. The opposition has demanded a parliamentary inquiry to look into the matter.

Dnevnik today reported that the contract with Pečečnik's company also included 400,000 protective goggles, thirteen times the number of all health care staff in the country, and at three times the supply price too.

The newspaper Finance raised issue over a EUR 1.8 million contract on the supply for surgical masks with SLA Marketing from the town of Destrnik "which has generated little revenue in recent years, does not even have a publicly available telephone number and whose ownership can be traced via Slovakia to Wyoming, US".

The news portal 24ur reports that while the state has paid Pečečnik 50 cents for a certified surgical mask, it has paid more than 20 cents for a "paper" mask, a reference to the EUR 860,000 paid to two companies for just over a million masks made of a special type of cellulose called air-laid.

The portal reports that the person in charge of sales at one of those, Korez Sorting, is the boss's wife who is a tax debtor and one of the persons accused for a hacking attack on port operator Luka Koper and two other companies two years ago. Two of the defendants pleaded guilty in the case a month ago.

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All our stories on coronavirus are here, while those covering covid-19 and Croatia are here. We'll have an update at the end of the day, and if you want newsflashes then we'll post those on Facebook

We can’t have pictures of COVID-19 every day. So instead we’ll try and show the works of Slovenian artists. Today it’s Daša Šeruga, with one of a series of posters from Tam Tam, as seen here.

Contents

Three more die of Covid-19, bringing national death toll to 77

Gradual return to sports accompanied by extensive warnings

Fines issued due to lockdown violations totalling EUR 32,000

Latest estimates value second stimulus package at EUR 2.8bn

Three more die of Covid-19, bringing national death toll to 77

STA, 20 April 2020 - Three more Covid-19 patients died in Slovenia on Sunday, bringing the official national death toll 77. Only five new coronavirus cases have been confirmed, raising the tally to 1,335, fresh data from the government show.

The number of new cases as a rule drops at weekends because fewer people are tested, but the country has been seeing a steady decline in new cases for a while now.

On Sunday, 537 tests were performed, which brings the total of tests so far conducted in the country to 41,802.

A total of 88 Covid-patients were being treated in hospitals on Sunday, 26 of them in intensive care units. One was discharged from hospital, which means 193 Covid-19 patients have so far returned home from hospital.

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Gradual return to sports accompanied by extensive warnings

STA, 20 April 2020 - A limited number of outdoor sports facilities, including tennis courts, golf courses and bowls pitches, were reopened for use as part of a softening of lockdown measures on Monday. Extensive safety instructions accompanying the return to sports however also reveal the impact the virus will have for some time to come.

While group sports remain forbidden, the new coronavirus reality will also leave a strong mark on individual sports that seem risk-free at first glance.

One of the more detailed safety lists, containing many of the measures also advised for other sports, has been published by the Tennis Association, which stressed that persons noticing any signs of infection still need to stay from courts and that these are only open for recreational purposes.

Changing rooms and locker rooms will be closed, while the players are also advised against changing their shirts during or after the match.

Toilets will be closed in case the provider cannot secure regular disinfection, states the association's safety list, which consists of 34 items in total.

No doubles matches are allowed and crossing over to the opponent's side to check the validity of a close call on what are mostly red clay tennis courts in Slovenia is strongly discouraged as well.

Another issue that implies more work for tennis club owners is posed by the cleaning of the court after a match, as players are no longer allowed to touch the nets used to even out the clay surface. The restriction applies to all court maintenance equipment.

Litter bins and loitering at the club house are off limits, while special post-match care also applies to the balls, which should be left in the container for 72 hours.

Finally, players will have to make do without one of the key rituals of the sport, the post-game handshake.

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Fines issued due to lockdown violations totalling EUR 32,000

STA, 20 April 2020 - The Health Inspectorate has launched more than 2,900 procedures and issued fines worth more than EUR 32,000 to people breaking the restrictions in place to slow down the coronavirus epidemic in Slovenia. It received over 110 reports of suspected violations directly from individuals and many more from the police.

The health inspection service has been cooperating with the police in enforcing the decrees on lockdown measures and performing field inspections.

During the epidemic, the inspectorate is the only authority that may initiate procedures and issue fines for violations of movement restrictions and the gathering ban.

The cases processed so far have been mostly referred to the inspectorate by the police and involved individuals. Almost 300 fines have been issued, totalling more than EUR 32,000, the health authority told the STA on Monday.

Over the weekend, the police received a total of 199 reports of alleged violations. Moreover, police officers reported 571 violations themselves on Saturday and Sunday, giving 513 warnings and referring 661 cases to the inspectorate, show police data. Most violations occurred in the Ljubljana and Celje areas.

The police have so far received 1,825 reports and determined more than 5,860 violations by itself, issuing almost 3,970 warnings and referring some 4,820 cases to the health inspection service, including 58 violations of the protection of public order act.

To stem the COVID-19 spread, the government has imposed a number of lockdown measures, including a ban on movement outside one's municipal unit. Since Saturday, the restriction has been eased to a certain degree, allowing maintenance and seasonal works at private properties in other municipalities.

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Latest estimates value second stimulus package at EUR 2.8bn

STA, 20 April - Coming out of Monday's coordination meeting for the emerging new coronavirus emergency package, coalition members explained the current total value of the envisaged measures, focusing on securing liquidity for businesses, was EUR 2.8 billion.

Reports on the liquidity measures, coming after a EUR 3 billion stimulus package seeking to prevent job loss and protect vulnerable groups, so far mentioned EUR 900 million to be given at the disposal of companies in the form of loans, guarantees and guarantee schemes. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GZS) spoke of EUR 2 billion in one statement.

The coalition discussed today changes to the first package and the new stimulus, both of which the government hopes to finalise today and on Tuesday and have ready for adoption in parliament on 28 and 29 April.

The deputy group head of the senior coalition Democrats (SDS) Danijel Krivec also announced a third package today saying "it will seek to kickstart growth while the measures will secure investment in infrastructure and might also include additional measures for tourism".

The Agriculture Ministry said today the third package was also to include measures for the agriculture and food sector, primarily focussing on new investment, plant production and boosting food self-sufficiency.

Coalition partners were mostly content today with the degree to which their proposals had been incorporated into the new package, but many raised the issue of tourism, which is likely to continue to struggle even after other sectors pick up.

Janja Sluga of the Modern Centre Party (SMC) said tourism should be approached "in a more comprehensive matter". She meanwhile also suggested not enough had been done for self-employed culture workers.

Still being coordinated are provisions laying down the extent to which loans taken out by companies to bridge the crisis are to be covered with state guarantees.

Franc Jurša of the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) revealed that small companies would probably get 80% guarantee coverage and large companies 70%.

Coalition parties can still forward their proposals to the government today to be studied by government task forces. The government is expected to endorse amendments to the first corona package and the draft second corona bill on Tuesday, so they could be discussed by the parliamentary finance committee on Friday or Saturday. The motions should be put up for a vote in parliament on 28 and 29 April.

The part of the opposition which was critical of the first corona epidemic legislative package is displeased with the draft second package as well.

MPs of the Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), Social Democrats (SD) and the Left pointed to the "still forgotten groups of citizens" and unclarity about state guarantees.

Brane Golubović of the LMŠ said the package did not bring solutions for the most problematic sector - the hospitality and tourism sector. He also wants to know whether the EUR 2 billion in planned state guarantees included those planned for the Koper-Divača rail project, the housing scheme and the north-south expressway.

Matjaž Han of the SD warned that all companies in need of aid would still not receive it. He too pointed to the problems of the hospitality and tourism sector, which would have long-term problems with hiring.

Miha Kordiš of the Left said that a large part of precarious workers, the unemployed and tenants were still being left out.

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STA, 20 April 2020 - Brigadier Robert Glavaš will formally take over as the new chief of the general staff of the Slovenian Armed Forces (SAF) on Monday. His major challenge will be staffing and modernising the underfunded army.

Born in 1962, Glavaš has been with the SAF since its beginnings in 1991, gaining experience and praise as a commander at home and abroad.

Before being appointed first as interim and then full-fledged chief of the general staff, Glavaš served as deputy to his predecessor, Maj-Gen Alenka Ermenc, who was dismissed at the new government's maiden session on 14 March. Earlier, he served as commander of the 1st Slovenian Armed Forces Brigade,

Glavaš, who specialised in transport sciences at the Faculty of Maritime Studies and Transport, has earned a reputation as a dedicated and broad-minded officer.

He has taken part in several international missions, serving as deputy chief of staff for support at Regional Command West, KFOR, Kosovo, contingent commander, ISAF, Afghanistan, and mentor to commander, 207th Corps, Afghan National Army.

He has also chaired different NATO exercise and training boards, headed the NATO CIMIC Centre of Excellence Steering Committee, and had assignments at tactical, operational and strategic levels in Slovenia and abroad as well as commanded units and branches in Slovenia and abroad.

His service has earned him a number of national and international medals and decorations, including Peace Peeping KFOR Medal, Non-Article Five ISAF Medal, EU Presidency Medal and the Italian Medal for Cooperation.

On Glavaš's appointment by the government on Thursday, Defence Minister Matej Tonin praised him for his operational skills, commitment and professionalism, adding: "I believe the is the right choice to lead the SAF in the future."

Glavaš has also been praised by Iztok Prezelj of the defence studies chair at the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences, who mentored Glavaš on his thesis for the military HQ and commanders school in 2008.

In his thesis Glavaš deals with the security situation in the Balkans from a broad aspect, including nationalisms, organised crime, corruption, refugees and internally displaced persons.

Talking with the STA, Prezelj expressed the belief that such a broad-based approach was the most suitable for the present situation when the talk is of involving the SAF in securing the south border.

President Borut Pahor, the SAF supreme commander, knows Glavaš as "a professional soldier with experiences gained as a commander and at other military duties at home and abroad".

Pahor is planning to host Glavaš for a meeting this week. He is expected to shortly promote him to the rank of major general, with promotions usually taking place on 15 May, Slovenian Armed Forces Day.

Even before that Pahor is expected to unveil to the public the conclusions of the annual SAF readiness report, which will reveal the state of the legacy handed down to the new chief of the general staff.

Last year's report, covering 2018, found the SAF state of readiness for peacetime action satisfactory, but their capacity for wartime action remained unsatisfactory for the fifth straight year.

On receiving the report last year, Pahor proposed adopting a systemic law to secure funding for national security.

Like Glavaš's predecessor Ermenc, Pahor identified shortages of staff, equipment and armament as the key issues affecting the readiness assessment both for peacetime and wartime or crisis action.

During her stint, Ermenc was also warning of delays in the building of military capabilities. She found a 4% increase in the defence budget for 2020 insufficient for a development breakthrough.

According to data as of March this year, the SAF numbers 7,013 members, 6,353 members of the regular permanent force and 660 members of contract reserve. This is almost 3,000 short of the 10,000 target.

Minister Tonin believes part of a solution to filling up the shortages lies in extracting the SAF from the single public sector pay system.

He has also pledged to tackle the status of soldiers beyond the age of 45, and expressed support for reintroduction of conscription, saying he would like to attract the young eager to serve.

Apart from the staffing, Prezelj believes another challenge for the new team will be developing the SAF to boost its capacity to operate in various security scenarios and modernisation in the direction of forming two battalion-sized battle groups.

One of the goals will be investment in cyber defence capacities. "All those goals will obviously depend on an increase in defence spending. If these funds don't increase, most ambitions will be jeopardised," said the defence expert.

All our stories on coronavirus, and the restrictions that will be lifted in the coming week, are here

STA, 19 April 2020 - Slovenia's official Covid-19 death toll has increased to 74 after four more fatalities were recorded on Saturday. The number of confirmed coronavirus cases rose by 13 for a total of 1,330, but only 685 tests were conducted on Saturday, only half the number the day before, show fresh official data released on Sunday.

A total of 90 Covid-patients were being treated in hospitals on Saturday, 26 of them in intensive care units. That is three and one fewer, respectively, compared to the day before. Two people were discharged from hospital yesterday, according to data released by the government.

Of the 13 new cases recorded on Saturday, five were at the Ljutomer care home, one of the virus hotspots in the country, where the overall number of those who tested positive for the novel coronavirus has risen to 110, including 81 residents, 22 staff and seven external staff helping in, the care home told the STA.

A total of 41,265 tests have so far been performed in Slovenia and a total of 192 Covid-19 patients have been discharged from hospitals.

Comprehensive Random Testing for Covid-19 Starts Monday in Slovenia

STA, 19 April 2020 - Slovenia is to launch a comprehensive random population testing for Covid-19 on Monday after invitations to take part have been sent to 3,000 people picked in a representative sample.

The first such survey in Slovenia is to give the authorities a reliable estimate of the extent of the coronavirus epidemic in the country and help them plan the way out of the lockdown.

The sample of people to be tested has been prepared by the Statistics Office (SURS) in cooperation with the Ljubljana Faculty of Social Sciences.

SURS says the sample consists of randomly selected 3,000 residents of Slovenia of all ages and is representative by age, gender and territorial breakdown of Slovenia.

In the first phase, SURS randomly selected 300 areas in Slovenia and in the second ten people from each of those areas were picked.

This way the survey results should enable generalisations regarding the extent of the spread of the novel coronavirus in Slovenia's entire population, SURS said.

Miroslav Petrovec, the head of the Institute for Microbiology and Immunology at the Ljubljana Faculty of Medicine, has told the STA that quite a few people have contacted them in recent days expressing their wish to be involved in the survey.

However, Petrovec says that, to ensure a representative sample, only those who have been invited can take part, but not their relatives or neighbours instead of them or those who might like to.

Nevertheless, the expert, who is a member of the Health Ministry's advisory group, did not rule out the possibility of a survey being conducted based on voluntary applications in the future.

Petrovec called on everyone who does get the invitation - these were sent out after the national commission for medical ethics gave its final go-ahead on Friday - to respond to the contact telephone number or e-mail address.

Those agreeing to testing will be visited by technicians at home, to be swabbed for the presence of the virus SARS-COV-2 as well as give blood samples for a serological test for antibodies. "Giving samples will not hurt," Petrovec promised.

Asked what would happen in case of insufficient response from those invited, Petrovec said they did not expect such a scenario.

"I believe in rationality and good faith of the people taking part because in this way they can do a lot for their fellow citizens at this moment, to help reopen the country as soon as possible."

The taking of swabs and blood samples could start on Monday, but Petrovec was reluctant to predict when it could complete because this will depend on people's cooperation.

He would like for the testing to be performed within a week, and they are planning to have the results ready before the May Day holidays.

The testing will be conducted by ten teams, each comprising a health professional trained to take swabs, and a member of the Institute for Microbiology and Immunology who will be responsible for personal data protection.

Petrovec says that the cost of the survey is hard to estimate at this stage, but promises the costs will be transparent and released publicly. Reagents alone will cost about EUR 150,000.

The state has already secured the funds for reagents and Petrovec expects it will also cover other costs associated with the survey, since the survey will serve the state.

Petrovec believes that data on the scope of the virus's spread will be needed by all countries that want to ease lockdown restrictions.

"We can open the country without them as well but this would be risky and cold lead to a new shutdown. Such a risk cannot be fully ruled out but if decisions are based on objective data, we can take measured steps," which Petrovec believes is absolutely worth the cost and effort.

While random tests are being planned by other countries and have already been conducted in Austria, Petrovec said Slovenia's would be the first such comprehensive test in Europe.

Austria's study was looking at the proportion of the infected population, while Slovenia's will also show how many people have recovered from the infection based on antibodies in their blood.

Explaining, Petrovec noted that the population includes those who have got over Covid-19 but have not been diagnosed with the disease.

There have been hundreds or even up to a thousand people a day who have been sent from entry points to self-isolation for whom it cannot be said whether they recovered from Covid-19.

They would also like to get answers to speculation about the large number of infected people without symptoms.

Those involved in the survey will also be invited to stay in the study so that their blood samples can be tested again after six months.

As of Saturday, Slovenia recorded 1,330 confirmed coronavirus cases and 74 Covid-19 deaths.

STA, 17 April 2020 - The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has called on the Slovenian authorities to restrain from exerting undue political pressure on the public broadcaster RTV Slovenija in the challenging times of the coronavirus epidemic.

In Thursday's statement published on the EBU website and cited by RTV Slovenija on Friday, the organisation said that "RTV Slovenija is playing a critical role in helping the state fight the Covid-19 pandemic and is currently stretched to its limits."

The European alliance of public service media organisations also argues that the Slovenian government's attacks on the public broadcaster's employment, financial and programme policies are not supported by empirical data.

"While of course welcoming criticism, we fear the accusations seek to undermine the independence of the public broadcaster and the competencies of their management and supervisory bodies," the statement reads.

The organisation is sure that there are already regulatory mechanisms in place to scrutinize the proper functioning of RTV Slovenija, which provide checks and balances against its institutional independence and autonomy.

The statement is a response to the pressure and allegations against RTV Slovenija, including in a letter the government sent last week to the Council of Europe to claim that the majority of the main media in Slovenia stem from the Communist regime.

In early April, PM Janez Janša accused RTV Slovenija of lying in a tweet targeting an interview with a trade unionist who expressed indignation about the government's intention to raise its pay, from which the government later backtracked.

Janša also said at the time that "we pay you to keep us informed in these times, not to mislead the public. Apparently there are too many of you and you are paid to well."

The EBU also took the opportunity to note that RTV Slovenija's legal and financial framework was outdated, and that it needed urgent update to ensure it receives adequate funding and technical upgrade in line with technological developments.

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