STA, 23 June 2020 - Slovenia saw a surge in coronavirus cases on Monday, when 13 out of 984 tests came back positive. This is the highest number of new daily infections since 24 April, when 15 new cases were reported.
Six out of 13 infections were imported - three from Bosnia and Herzegovina, and one each from Serbia, Croatia and Kosovo, Mario Fafangel, the head of the centre for contagious diseases at the National institute for Public health (NIJZ), told the press today.
Five other cases were related to the imported ones, one is still being investigated and in one case the source of infection is not known.
Fafangel stressed that Slovenia's epidemiological situation, with 14 cases confirmed this week, was still good compared to those in other EU countries. He assured the public that the imported infections were under control.
If the number of infections starts rising rapidly, various measures will be proposed, he said.
Slovenia had 25 new infections confirmed between 15 and 21 June, of which 11 were imported and 10 were related to those cases. Nobody got infected in their local environment in the country.
Five Covid-19 patients were is hospital yesterday, one in intensive care. One person was discharged from hospital and no new deaths were reported, the government said on Twitter.
So far, 94,165 tests have been conducted and 1,534 infections confirmed. A total of 109 people have died of the disease, the last one on 1 June.
Fafangel said today the surge in the number of new cases was not the second wave of the epidemic but oscillation. With the curve flattening, the situation seemed very promising, but now the figures are being kept at a stable level.
"All countries are trying to keep the situation under control at the global level, because it is not enough if only one country is taking measures," the NIJZ official said.
Government spokesman Jelko Kacin said the government would discuss the potential new measures tomorrow.
New infections were confirmed in nine Slovenian municipalities on Monday. Mostly one case was recorded in each municipality, except in Pivka were two cases were recorded, which Kacin linked to a party.
Fafangel said the number of hospitalised persons remains low because the demographic structure of those infected was different than during the epidemic. While back then, the patients were mostly elderly, now they are active people who travel.
