STA, 16 October 2020 - Slovenian epidemiologists will continue establishing contact with those infected with the novel coronavirus, however from Saturday they will no longer pursue their contact tracing strategy or issue proposals for quarantine orders.
The epidemiological service of the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) announced on Friday that as of Saturday it will be up to the infected to notify everyone they have been in contact with of their infection.
Epidemiologists' capacities are not limitless, said NIJZ, adding that they have stepped up their efforts to investigate coronavirus cases, however case numbers are rising and investigation delays are bound to occur.
Currently, epidemiologists can deal with some 350 cases per day, tenfold compared to the spring.
In the morning, there were some 1,300 cases of confirmed infections that had not been yet dealt with, meaning close contacts had not been established.
Epidemiologists will continue notifying the infected of all the key information, including about the quarantine procedure and the code for activating an alert via contact tracing app #OstaniZdrav (#StayWell).
The infected person will also receive instructions to warn all who have been in contact with them and deliver relevant guidelines.
Epidemiologists will thus no longer determine risky contacts themselves nor will they issue quarantine proposals.
Regardless of a change in its protocol, the service will carry on with its work and keep providing key epidemiologic data representing an important basis for deciding on anti-corona measures, added the NIJZ.
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