STA, 27 August 2021 - Revenue from the sales of services in Slovenia was up by 21.8% in June compared to the same month last year, and by 2.6% compared to June 2019, the Statistics Office reported on Friday, an indication that services are recovering fast from the pandemic slump.

All observed groups of services contributed to the growth in revenue from the sales of services in June, with the largest growth being recorded in real estate brokerage (49%).

In the hospitality industry, revenue grew by 24.7% in June year-on-year, and in professional, scientific and technical activities it was up by 24.5%.

In transport and warehousing it increased by 23.6%, in other miscellaneous business activities by 18.4% and in information and communication by 12%, the Statistics Office notes.

In the first half of 2021, revenue from the sales of services was up by 13.5% year-on-year, and it was higher in all observed groups except the hospitality industry. It was meanwhile 1.2% below the figure from the first half of 2019.

STA, 26 August 2021 - The tested-vaccinated-recovered requirement, known in Slovenia by the acronym PCT, will be expanded to university students and those participating in indoor sports activities under a decision adopted by the government on Thursday.

The change means university students who are unvaccinated or do not have proof of having recovered from coronavirus will have to be tested once a week to enter their universities, where the PCT rule already applies to all staff.

The same rule will apply to anyone under 15 doing indoor sports activities, whether professional or recreational. The managers of sports premises must ensure that Covid passes are checked at the entrance.

The changes will enter into effect a day after being published in the Official Gazette, presumably on Friday or Saturday.

The change marks an expansion of the use of the PCT rule. The stated goal is to keep schools and business open even as cases skyrocket, and to convince people to get vaccinated.

Health Inspector Deana Potza said today inspectors would step up checks at institutions that are required to verify compliance with the PCT rule. They will be assisted by police.

STA, 25 August 2021 - Slovenia is likely to get a new Covid traffic light system next week with tiers of restrictions defined based on the number of cases in hospital rather than the number of new positive cases, senior health officials said on Wednesday.

Health Minister Janez Poklukar said the focus would by on the occupancy of hospital beds in general and intensive care beds in particular. The final details are being ironed out in talks with health experts, he said.

Mateja Logar, the head of the Health Ministry's Covid-19 advisory group, said the final proposal was to be adopted at a meeting on Monday.

Given that more than 40% of the population has been vaccinated, the overall number of new cases is not that important anymore.

"We also know that the main limiting factor in Slovenia is the number of hospital beds, which is why the traffic light will be adjusted to that, something many other European countries are likely to do as well," she told the STA.

The previous traffic light system, which is currently not in use, had hospitalisations and the seven-day average of new daily cases as the main criteria for tiers of restrictions.

Another reason why hospital occupancy should be the primary criterion, according to Logar, is the current system of Covid certificates, which are a prerequisite for staff in several sectors and for activities such as cultural events and indoor dining.

"It's important that people realise this system is not about restrictions, it is designed to keep industries open when they would be closed long ago in similar conditions last year."

If the epidemiological situation continues to deteriorate, the advisory group will propose an expansion of the use of Covid certificates and increased frequency of testing for those who are now required to test on a weekly basis.

All the latest data on COVID and Slovenia

STA, 25 August - The recovery of tourism from the current crisis will take much longer than expected and may even take a generation, warned Gregor Jamnik, head of the Slovenian Hoteliers' Association. He also pointed to the difficulties in recruiting staff, especially young people, and the uncertainty in the tourism and hospitality industry.

"Covid-19 has changed tourism in a global sense - we're not talking just about lower demand, there's the collapse of the airline industry, the closure of hotels, bars and so on," Jamnik said during a debate We Are All Tourism, hosted by the Digital Innovation Hub (DIH) Slovenia on Wednesday.

Initially, it was thought that the recovery would take three to five years, but Jamnik estimates that it could take much longer. It is even likely to be the longest recovery in the history of tourism and hospitality, he said.

He pointed to the uncertainty that the epidemic is causing in the industry: "People who have worked or want to work in our industry can see the insecurity, and this will affect a whole generation."

Jamnik also pointed to the difficulties in finding cleaners, maids and kitchen assistants, saying that these jobs were completely undesirable among Slovenians.

Importing staff could be a solution, but this can create cultural and language problems.

Another problem is that young people seek jobs where they can be promoted quickly and their desire cannot be met. They also refuse to work weekends, holidays and night shifts, he added.

In his view, there is also a lack of human resources training in Slovenia, which is an important way of communicating with employees about what is required and expected of them. He also pointed to the fact that Slovenia does not have a hotel management school.

Jamnik sees the automation of some parts of the industry as a possible solution to the staffing problems, but a larger piece of the pie will also have to go for employees' wages, he believes.

"We can't instantly improve working conditions, but we can increase the number of employees, so they could have a couple more days off work," he said.

STA, 25 August 2021 - Schools and kindergartens have received instructions on how to act if staff does not adhere to the recovered-vaccinated-tested rule. The Education Ministry document obtained by the STA shows that a refusal to get tested for coronavirus will be sufficient ground for a lay-off.

Employees in kindergartens and education institutions must be either vaccinated, have proof of recovery, or tested once a week, a rule known in Slovenia as PCT.

This means that those who are not vaccinated or reconvalescent and refuse to get tested weekly do not meet the obligations from their employment contract, reads the document.

Employers are not obligated to give those who refuse to get tested the possibility of working from home or going on a furlough.

In case an employee refuses testing, a disciplinary procedure can be launch against them and the lay-off procedure started, which means that ultimately the employee can be fired.

A refusal to wear a face mask is also treated as a violation of the employment contract.

Students and pupils who will not wear masks must, however, not be banned from attending classes. But parents will be notified of the requirement and the school will report such cases to the school inspection.

Education institutions received the instructions on Tuesday afternoon after head teachers warned on several occasions they have no legal ground or instruction on how to act if employees refuse to adhere to the PCT rule.

STA, 24 August 2021 - Slovenia has started using monoclonal antibody treatment for some patients with Covid-19, having received a shipment of 1,000 doses of the drug, which has been developed by the US biotech company Regeneron, as part of an EU contract.

The combination of two antibody treatments, casirivimab and imdevimab, is used at the request of attending physicians and at the patient's responsibility since it currently has a temporary permit from the Slovenian Agency for Medicinal Products and Medical Devices, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

The drug is given to patients with severe symptoms in the early stages of the disease.

At the beginning of July, Slovenia has expressed interest in procuring a thousand doses of another monoclonal antibody treatment, Sotrovimab, which is manufactured by Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK).

And today, ministry officials held talks with the representatives of Pfizer on the use of the antibody treatment that they are developing.

Monoclonal antibodies are just one type of treatment for Covid-19 patients.

Patients who need oxygen get the antiviral drug redemsivir and corticosteroids, while critically ill patients also get tocilizumab, an immunosuppressive drug.

STA, 23 August 2021 - More than 50% of Slovenians aged over 18 have been fully vaccinated and 55% have received the first shot of a coronavirus vaccine, the latest official figures show.

Figures from Cepimose.si, the official vaccination portal, show more than 868,000 fully vaccinated and almost 950,000 having received the first shot as of Monday.

In the overall population, the percentages are 42% and 46%, respectively.

Slovenia lags the best performers in Europe, but the pace of vaccination finally appears to be inching up after declining throughout the summer.

Slightly over 34,000 shots were delivered last week, almost a tenth more than in the week before.

But this is still far from the peak of the vaccination campaign, in early June, when well over 100,000 shots were delivered a week.

Find the latest data on COVID and Slovenia here

STA, 23 August 2021 - With the start of the school year only a week away and facing criticism about inadequate preparedness, education officials provided assurances on Monday that educational institutions are prepared for another year of coronavirus restrictions.

Schools and kindergartens will operate according to what is called model B, which means in-person instruction for all children, mandatory masks for older children, distancing, extensive ventilation, and mandatory Covid certificates for staff.

Damir Orehovec, a state secretary at the Education Ministry, acknowledged at a conference for head teachers today that the rules concerning Covid certificates have not been finalised yet.

At present unvaccinated teachers have to be tested by an official provider of testing once a week, but it is likely that self-testing will be introduced soon.

Parents who wish to enter school or kindergarten premises will have to show a Covid certificate as well. It remains unclear who will check parents' status, though.

The rules for the school year have been issued in a 140-page publication for educational institutions and were presented today at the onset of a three-day conference for head teachers.

Vinko Logaj, the head of the National Education Institute, expects that the school year will start and finish in-person.

"The protocols that some schools have already finalised and others are still supplementing will make it possible to successfully carry out instruction in this school year," he said.

Education MinisterSimona Kustec  was supposed to address the head teachers as well but she has contracted Covid-19 and is isolating at home with severe symptoms.

Responding to calls that she should resign, she said in a written message that she would "not accept threats, insults and unsubstantiated shaming, or attempt to dehumanise by those ... who abuse the educational system for their narrow, egotistic and often partisan interests".

Messages about sufficient preparedness were also delivered at a session of the parliamentary Education Committee, called at the request of the opposition with the argument that preparations for another epidemic school year have not been sufficient.

Education Ministry State Secretary Mitja Slavinec said the planned measures were a compromise between efforts to secure a safe learning environment and effective instruction.

He said the situation was changing fast and that restrictions were unpredictable, noting that it would be easy to set very strict rules from the start, like Italy did, but that the main goal of the restrictions was to keep schools open as long as possible.

The statement came after the centre-left opposition claimed the government was a complete failure when it came to getting schools ready.

Marko Koprivc, an MP for the Social Democrats (SD), said on behalf of the opposition that with one week to go before classes start, teachers still did not have any information and it was unclear what kind of restrictions will be in place.

He accused Minister Kustec of being "incompetent" and urged her to resign, while calling on the government to finally start working and make sure instruction can proceed normally.

STA, 20 August 2021 - Passengers transiting through Slovenia are not required to produce a Covid certificate only until 29 August, the government decided on Friday, extending its previous decision regarding transit passengers by a week.

To enter Slovenia without having to quarantine for ten days, the recovered-vaccinated-tested rule continues to apply.

Transit passengers, hauliers in international transport, children below 15 years of age, property owners on both sides of the border, and people who daily cross the border for work are exempted.

To prove the exemption applies, a passenger has to produce documentation proving their status to police officers on the border, or else they are ordered to quarantine.

If a foreigner does not have residence in Slovenia, they are allowed to enter only if they unequivocally prove they have a place to quarantine, the government said after its session.

STA, 20 August 2021 - Slovenia was expected to phase out as of next week free rapid testing for all but the most high-risk professions, but the government has now changed course. Employees in healthcare, education, retail and the events industry will continue to have access to free tests.

Employees in these sectors will have to test once a week, but the testing requirement does not extend to those who have been vaccinated, according to Education Ministry State Secretary Damir Orehovec.

The changed decree also stipulates that pupils in the last three years of primary school and all secondary-school students will self-test on a voluntary basis.

The tests will be free and available in pharmacies, Health Minister Janez Poklukar said after Friday's government session.

These students will also have to wear masks in school, including during classes, not just in communal areas.

The Education Ministry had initially proposed that teachers self-test, a plan supported by teachers, but this will not be rolled out immediately.

Poklukar said a legal basis for self-testing was now being prepared and may enter into effect after 6 September, assuming sufficient quantities of self-testing kits are available.

Branimir Štrukelj, the head of the teachers' trade union SVIZ, told the STA that teachers had expected self-testing from the get go.

"Nevertheless, we hope for the fundamental trust in the teaching profession to prevail," he said, adding that teachers would "responsibly, precisely and consistently" self-test to help preserve the stability of the educational system.

Another decree the government adopted today stipulates that athletes may do organised sport provided they are tested once a week, unless they are vaccinated or have had Covid-19. The new rule applies from 23 August.