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Slovenia's Covid-19 death toll hits hundred
Roughly half of seats on trains will be off limit
Šarec denies accusations over PPE, lashes back
All medical, dental services resuming, yet under some restrictions
Slovenia's Covid-19 death toll hits hundred
STA, 8 May 2020 - Slovenia's Covid-19 death toll has risen to a hundred after one more patient died on Thursday. The total number of coronavirus cases so far confirmed hit 1,450 after one more infection was officially reported.
This is the second day in a row that only one new infection was detected out of more than a thousand tests conducted daily. On Thursday 1,049 were carried out, slightly fewer than the day before.
Fresh data from the government also show a continued decrease in the number of patients hospitalised with the novel disease. Five more were discharged on Thursday, and 47 remain in hospital, including 12 in intensive care, one fewer than the day before.
But the head of the Health Ministry's advisory task force, Bojana Beović, warns there are probably "hidden pockets" of persons infected with coronavirus in Slovenia, and that the disease could spread again from there.
This is why she advocates a gradual easing of restrictive measures, whose effects can be seen in 11-13 days.
The low number of newly detected infections is the consequence of the measures that are still in place, she said.
According to her, this is a trial period, which will show whether state-imposed restrictions are needed or not.
If the curve remains flat, gatherings of people will be allowed again, and shopping malls will reopen. Dental services are also planned to be relaunched.
The idea is to contain the epidemic to the extent that lock-down would be introduced only in areas with an outbreak and not nation-wide, Beović said.
Since it is not clear whether a person who had Covid-19 is protected from the disease, gaining herd immunity this way might not be an option. Moreover, if 70% of the people fell ill, many would die, so instead of 100 causalities Slovenia could be looking at 2,100, she warned.
She said that if all preventive measures were respected, the epidemic might subside during the summer months, when people spend more time outdoors, but another wave was expected in autumn.
Roughly half of seats on trains will be off limit
STA, 8 May 2020 - Presenting the new coronavirus-adapted regime ahead of the relaunch of passenger railway transport next week, national operator Slovenske železnice announced on Friday that seats in coaches would be marked so as to secure adequate distance among passengers.
Passenger transport director Darja Kocjan said that entry points and seats appropriate for use will be marked, with the plan being to only occupy half of the seats.
"We've provided disinfectants, entry is only allowed with a face mask. We advise that the disinfectant also be used before exiting the train," Kocjan said.
Slovenske železnice plans to restart passenger transport on Monday with about a third of their trains. The number will be increased on 18 Many and by June the railways hope to be back to a schedule similar to that before 16 March when public transport was put on hold in the country.
"New ticket prices also enter into force on Monday, which will be kinder to the passengers," Kocjan moreover announced, also explaining that the validity of season and monthly tickets issued before the crisis would be extended to make up for the lost period.
SŽ-Infrastruktura director Matjaž Kranjc added that waiting rooms at stations would remained closed, with access only provided to ticket counters. Toilets will be closed at all smaller train stations, while they will be open on the trains.
Šarec denies accusations over PPE, lashes back
STA, 8 May 2020 - In his first reaction to the serious accusations against him in the government report on the procurement of personal protective equipment (PPE), the former Prime Minister Marjan Šarec denied the charge that he did nothing to replenish virtually empty stocks and failed to act to prevent an imminent health crisis.
In a televised interview with TV Slovenija last night, Šarec defended himself against the accusation that he did not order Health Ministry to take action to secure the needed equipment until two days before handing over to his successor Janez Janša in mid-March.
He said the reason was that PPE purchases had been in the purview of health institutions, which were making orders. Lashing back, he said that putting the Agency for Commodity Reserves in charge of PPE procurement was a departure from previous practice and that Health Ministry was in charge of action during an epidemic.
He said that the Health Ministry under his government joined the EU bulk-buy of protective masks, which fell through due to a scam though. "It's thus not accurate at all to say that we weren't dealing with that," said Šarec.
He went on to note that an interdepartmental coronavirus taskforce was appointed in January and that the civil protection had been involved throughout and so did the secretariat of the National Security Council task the Agency for Commodity Reserves to replenish the stocks released.
Challenged about whether he felt responsible for the state of PPE stocks when he handed over to Janša, Šarec said the equipment had been ordered and that they had been in contact with the Chinese ambassador as China had offered help.
However, the question he said needed to be asked "is why everything was then handed over to the Agency [for Commodity Reserves] and why the law was not followed".
He repeated that his health minister had acted responsibly and that his government declared the epidemic, imposed border controls and closed schools and nurseries.
He disagreed it was a blunder on the part of the opposition that the coalition had beaten the opposition by filing for a parliamentary inquiry into PPE procurement, blaming it on the coalition's fear and an attempt "to protect themselves" and to prevent investigation of "corrupt actions".
Asked about his support for Friday's bicycle protests and his retweeting a tweet by Damir Črnčec, his aide as PM, with a clip showing him "training" on the bicycle in the square in front parliament that is the site of the protests, Šarec rejected the suggestion his LMŠ party was using the protests for promotion.
"It's the civil society's campaign and it should stay that way, there's no place for us politicians there to show ourselves. We must fight each in our own ground, civil society on bicycles, politicians in parliament, but our common goal is that this corrupt government shouldn't stay on much longer."
Šarec also told TV Slovenija last night, as he tried to defend himself from the accusations in the PPE report, that the fact that Janša and his family had been skiing in Italy on 28 February proved Janša himself had not really been aware of the threat of coronavirus.
One of the accusations levelled against the Šarec government in the PPE report is that those who went to Italy to ski were not quarantined upon return to Slovenia.
Janša took to Twitter today saying he had explained long ago that the photo of his family skiing in Italy he posted on Twitter on 28 February 2020 was taken a year ago.
He accused Šarec of lying saying that "he is trying to hide his own responsibility for the deaths in the epidemic with lies". Šarec responded by posting Janša's 28 February tweet with the mentioned photo, and again accused him of laying.
Šarec moreover posted a demand he received from the Matoz Law Firm on behalf of Janša to immediately withdraw the statement about Janša's skiing in Italy, or else he would be taken to court.
Janša posted the photo with a statement "the best rally today" in reference to a protest held in front of the offices of the Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) and the Modern Centre Party (SMC) on the same day. The protest was meant to persuade the two parties not to join the emerging government coalition with Janša's Democrats (SDS).
All medical, dental services resuming, yet under some restrictions
STA, 8 May 2020 - At its correspondence session on Friday, the government issued a decree relaunching all medical and dental service yet under special conditions, which are set in another decree on temporary measures in healthcare to contain the Covid-19 epidemic. Both decrees will enter into force on Saturday.
As the epidemic was declared in mid-March, all non-urgent medical services were suspended and dental surgeries closed, expect for a few emergency units around Slovenia.
The government partly relaxed some non-urgent treatments and services already last month.
Under the decrees issued today, all services at all levels - primary, secondary and tertiary levels - can resume.
However, they can be provided only to patients "with a negative epidemiological anamnesis and with no signs of a respiratory infection".
In treating all the other patients, medical services providers must follow all the recommendations and guidelines for medical services during the coronavirus epidemic, the Government Communication Office said in today's release.
