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We can’t have pictures of COVID-19 every day. So instead we’ll try and show the works of Slovenian and Slovenia-based artists. Today it’s |Andy Green. You can see more of his work here.
Confirmed infections up by 36 to 1,304, death toll by 5 to 66
Coronavirus situation in Šmarje pri Jelšah stabilising
Govt ordered to check justification of restrictions on movement every week
After lockdown, Slovenians to visit relatives, get their hair done
Confirmed infections up by 36 to 1,304, death toll by 5 to 66
STA, 17 April 2020 - Slovenia recorded five new Covid-19 deaths on Thursday for a total death toll of 66, while the number of confirmed infections after 1,193 more people were tested was up by 36 to 1,304. The number of new cases is in line with the trend of a flat curve with occasional dips.
The number of hospitalised patients was down by four to 95 on Thursday, while the number of intensive care cases decreased by three to 28. Nine Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospital.
"The data on the epidemic in Slovenia are encouraging. We'll be able to preserve the positive trend if we continue observing the measures and keep the focus that we've all demonstrated in the past weeks," the government's coronavirus spokesperson Jelko Kacin told the press on Friday.
A total of 39,330 people have been tested in Slovenia so far. 182 Covid-19 patients have been discharged from hospital.
Coronavirus situation in Šmarje pri Jelšah stabilising
STA, 17 April 2020 - Good news is coming from one of the coronavirus hotspots in the country, Šmarje pri Jelšah in the north-east, where the local care home saw the biggest outbreak of Covid-19. Just over a month since the first infection was recorded in the municipality, the situation seems to be finally stabilising, according to Mayor Matija Čakš.
Šmarje pri Jelšah was the first town in Slovenia to close its primary school on 12 March after two employees tested positive for coronavirus. After that, the number of infections in the municipality rose quickly, and the virus spread the most in the town's care home, which reported of the first infection on 18 March.
Until this Wednesday, 155 people from the municipality got infected, data from the National Institute for Public Health show. Most of them are residents of the care home, but the exact figure is not known.
The number of infections rose by six in a week, having stood at 149 on 8 April.
According to the mayor, all of those who died from Covid-19 in the municipality - their number stood at 25 on Wednesday - were residents of the care home.
Outside the home, the number of infections does not particularly stand out, Čakš said. The number of coronavirus cases is slightly higher in Šmarje compared to other municipalities because of the number of cases tested, he added.
He said there had been no major problems because of Covid-19 outside the care home, as citizens accepted restrictions, and now the situation seems to be stabilising. "The situation is also stabilising at the care home," he asserted.
The mayor said there were many theories about the outbreak of coronavirus in the municipality but the fact was that the Šmarje primary school is the fourth largest in the country, and that many families had been holidaying abroad.
The employees of the care home who first tested positive for the virus are not local residents, so the infection has come from elsewhere, the mayor added, noting that there was no sense in investigating this now.
Govt ordered to check justification of restrictions on movement every week
STA, 17 April 2020 - The Constitutional Court has ordered the government to immediately verify the justification for restrictions on the movement of persons put in place to contain the spread of coronavirus, whereupon it must examine every week whether the government decree imposing these restrictions is still justifiable.
The decision, released on Friday, refers to the most far-reaching government decree to combat the crisis, which was adopted on 29 March and amended on 14 April and effectively put the entire country into lockdown, allowing only limited exemptions to the prohibition of movement, including going to work, the grocery store or the nearest park.
The court has now suspended Article 7 of the decree, which determines that the measures will be in place "until the cessation of the reasons", a provision which gives the government the discretion to decide when to end the measures. The suspension will remain in place until the judges reach a substantive decision.
In the meantime, the government must verify the justification for the extension of the measures every week based on expert opinion to verify "whether the measures are necessary for the achievement of the objectives". The first such assessment must be made as soon as the decision is formally served to the government.
The court says it realises that the decree will cease to apply at some point anyway, but it says that it admitted the application nevertheless since it raises "important issues concerning constitutional law".
Interestingly, it has not been revealed who petitioned the court, as the petitioner requested the Constitutional Court that the petition be anonymised. The court said that conditions for this had been met and the petition was thus anonymised.
The government previously said that the petition had no grounds and asked the court to reject it to avoid irreparable consequences for public health. Interior Ministry said in a statement today that it supported the court's decision, adding that this is already being done daily.
"We did the right thing! The suspended segment is not problematic," tweeted Interior Minister Aleš Hojs. "The government will simply have to determine regularly whether the decree is still needed, extending or abolishing it, as dictated by the Constitution."
The opposition welcomed the decision of the Constitutional Court, with the Social Democrats (SD) saying that Hojs's statement was misleading, as it was clear that the Constitutional Court had not yet discussed the contents of the decree.
The Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ) questioned the sensibility of the movement restrictions, saying that the "lively Saturday", when people allegedly flocked from the cities to tourist destinations and was the reason for the restriction, had not been so lively after all, judging by the number of new infections.
The party was also critical of President Borut Pahor and interior and defence ministers Hojs and Matej Tonin, for ignoring social distancing rules while visiting the southern border earlier this week.
"Their excuse is that it was a slip. But when ordinary people slipped this way... they did not get a chance to apologise and do better next time. They were punished immediately: with the movement restriction, some also with fines," LMŠ said.
The Left also welcomed the Constitutional Court's decision, adding that it will petition the court on Monday to examine coronavirus stimulus package provisions giving more powers to the police.
The Left also intends to ask the court to review the government decree adopted in Wednesday, which the Left says restricts movement between municipalities on the basis of the mentioned act.
After lockdown, Slovenians to visit relatives, get their hair done
STA, 17 April 2020 - One out of three Slovenians believes life will get back to normal after 1 June, a poll conducted by Aragon suggests, with most respondents planning to visit their close relatives and friends.
The latest of Aragon's weekly polls, conducted between 9 and 13 April among 1,027 respondents, shows a third of those questioned expecting life after the lockdown to get back to normal after 1 June.
Meanwhile, 16% believe life will return to normal after 1 July, whereas 12% do not expect the situation to return to the way it had been before the epidemic until 2021 or even later.
Asked about their short-term plans once stay-at-home measures are lifted, half of respondents plan to visit their close relatives first, and one out of three will visit their close friends.
One out of four will call on their hairdresser as soon as the quarantine is over, or take a day trip and socialise at picnics or parties.
There is more gloom when it comes to the prospect of holidays with 60% saying they did not think they would be able to take their summer holidays as they used to.
The poll also ascertained a decline in public apprehension about coronavirus with those concerned about Covid-19 falling to 37% from 51% in the last week of March.
