The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 18 December 2020. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here

Mladina: Govt acting like Trump regarding epidemic

STA, 18 December 2020 – Mladina, the left-leaning weekly, says in its latest commentary that if it only appeared in the last few months that, in fighting the Covid-19 epidemic the Slovenian government was doing exactly what Donald Trump was doing until his defeat in the US presidential election, this has now become completely transparent.

"[PM] Janez Janša cares about the dead and infected and the raging of the epidemic like his role model Donald Trump does. And the same is true for his party. Trump followed capital and benefits that he could himself indirectly gain from this capital, and Janša is doing the same here. Everything negative that happens is only collateral damage of that fight for authority and power."

In the commentary headlined How Many More Dead?, the left-leaning weekly adds that the government's fight against the epidemic is completely falling apart, and that there is no professional logic in its measures, as everything is only a political battle.

All serious and even less serious experts have given up and withdrawn, and MPs have no other option than to seriously weigh their power and responsibility, as the current government has started working in a completely opposite direction.

"The chaos suits it. Janša is aware that he is not capable of salvaging the situation, that he has no one who would give him the impression that the measures are logical and justified. And this is why this government no longer deals with the epidemic, it is now only about keeping power and extending the term."

While countries with incomparably better epidemiological situation started introducing stricter measures, Slovenia relaxed the lockdown. "Remember when Trump did not want to halt public life? How he ridiculed Europe? How the interests of capital were preferred to the right to live? Everything we saw in America, we can now observe in Slovenia."

Mladina concludes by saying that the public hopes that MPs of the Modern Centre Party (SMC) and Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) will understand where Slovenia is at and that they will be able to admit that they were wronged. "Perhaps even New Slovenia (NSi) should think about where this government has taken us."

Reporter: Fight with epidemic lost due to distrust in govt

STA, 14 December 2020 – Reporter, the right-leaning weekly, says in its latest commentary that the Janez Janša government is losing the trust of people as one of the key elements in battling the epidemic, and that it has never been closer to its end than today. The longer the political agony lasts, the longer Slovenia will be running idle in fighting the epidemic, it adds.

The weekly wonders in the commentary Running Idle why Slovenia has failed to stop the epidemic, saying that one of the reasons is certainly that the government reacted too late, when the spread of the epidemic could not be stopped any more.

While neighbouring countries are opening up, Slovenia is in a lockdown and all there restrictions are taking too long and people are tired of restrictive measures, "especially when they see that the ruling party abuses them to consolidate power."

It is hard to convince people that protesters or the opposition are to blame for the spread of the epidemic, which is something that Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek of the Modern Centre Party (SMS) has also figured out.

Unlike the leaders of the largest coalition party, the Democrats (SDS), he has pointed to the responsibility of the current government, including the dwindling trust in PM Janez Janša, Reporter says, commending Počivalšek for calling a spade a spade.

If people have the feeling that the government unnecessarily restricts their fundamental rights instead of protecting their heath, the war against the epidemic is lost.

As for Janša, Reporter says that his "ideological behaviour does not bother only the opposition supporters, but also members of the coalition parties such as the SMC and DeSUS. It is no wonder, then, that Janša's government has never been closer to its end than today."

Karl Erjavec has returned as Pensioners' Party (DeSUS) president to take the "first step towards the downfall of the third Janša government" by publicly rejecting the possibility of serving in the government as minister.

Erjavec has launched the process of DeSUS leaving the government only to be slowed down by DeSUS deputies, but the question is how much longer can they "save Janša's government with their stubbornness before it falls apart by itself."

All our posts in this series are here

STA, 19 December 2020 - A mix of relaxed and tightened restrictions is planned for Christmas under a roadmap that the government unveiled on Saturday. Restrictions will be relaxed or tightened depending on the epidemiological situation and may be extended into the New Year's holiday.

"The government has assessed that we've lived with the currently applicable measures long enough and that we are increasingly aware how important they are to protect the lives of those most vulnerable and to beat the epidemic," government spokesman Jelko Kacin told the press after a government session on Saturday.

Kacin said this is why the government opted for a "gradual, controlled relaxation" of individual measures.

One of the linchpins of the plan is the complete closure between 24 December and 4 January of all services activities where there is direct contact with consumers; if the epidemiological situation does not improve, the closure will be in effect until 10 January.

The same applies to shops, with the exception of grocery stores, pharmacies, shops selling medical devices, petrol stations, postal and delivery services, selected therapeutic services, and deliveries of food or other goods.

Under this plan, the first three grades of primary school would open from 4 January assuming the epidemiological situation improves. The same goes for kindergartens.

On the relaxation front, the complete ban on gatherings will be eased on 24 and 25 December to allow up to six persons from a maximum of two households to gather privately. The person limit applies to those aged over 15.

On those two days, between noon on 24 December and 8pm on 25 December, people will also be allowed to leave their municipality and region for visits.

If the epidemiological situation improves or remains stable, the same regime would apply on 31 December and 1 January.

All other restrictions remain in place, including the ban on public gatherings and prohibition of the sale and use of fireworks.

The government also issued an appeal to companies to decree remote work or collective leave is possible between 24 December and 10 January.

Kacin said the relevant decrees will be released in the coming days.

The announcement comes after the daily case count declined substantially on a week-to-week basis for the seventh day in a row and the number of people in hospital fell to a one-month low.

Outside the Christmas measures, one more region, Primorsko-Notranjska, has been added to the four statistical regions with the lowest incidence of new cases where more shops are allowed to open, including clothing and footwear stores.

STA, 18 December 2020 - In the past seven days, the police dealt with almost 16,800 cases monitoring compliance with Covid rules. A total of 1,026 warnings were given, up by some 14% on the week before, and 519 fines were issued, down by 4%, deputy Police Commissioner Tomaž Pečjak said on Friday.

The police conducted 2,400 inspections per day on average to monitor compliance with coronavirus restrictions.

Mostly they dealt with violations of border restrictions, movement restrictions, including those restricting movement between municipalities, the 9pm-6am curfew or a ban on gatherings, Pečjak said at today's government briefing.

The police reported nine violations to the Health Inspectorate in the past seven days. Another 188 alleged violations were reported by municipality residents.

Health inspectors issued 35 sanctions between 7 and 13 December, 265 warnings and 100 administrative measures, having dealt with 2,303 cases, Deana Potza with the inspectorate told the briefing.

Violations include gatherings in the vicinity of food or beverage pick-up points or people wearing face masks wrong or not wearing them at all.

Most police warnings were issued by the Ljubljana Police Department (442), followed by the authorities in the Kranj area (81) and the Koper area (65), Pečjak pointed out.

When it comes to fines, the highest number was also issued in the Ljubljana area (154), followed by the Novo Mesto Police Department (149).

Pečjak said that the police were monitoring compliance with the curfew in cities and on major roads. However, most alleged violations are brought to the attention of the police by residents, he added.

The police issued 1,661 quarantine orders at border crossings between 11 and 17 December, an almost 19% increase on the week before. Most were issued on the border with Croatia (1,032), followed by those issued on the border with Austria (425), Italy (55) and Hungary (16).

At Ljubljana airport the police issued 133 quarantine orders in the past seven days.

The greatest number of quarantine orders was issued to passengers arriving from Bosnia-Herzegovina (437), which compares to 602 orders issued to arrivals from this country in the previous seven days.

A total of 287 quarantine orders was issued to arrivals from Germany, whereas a week before none, followed by arrivals from Croatia (209), Serbia (126), Kosovo (108) and North Macedonia (105).

The number of arrivals entering or exiting Slovenia on the border with Croatia increased by some 10% to 314,266 in the past seven days.

Compared with the same period last year, traffic on the border was reduced by two thirds, Pečjak said.

He urged those who intend to travel to learn about relevant conditions and heed prevention measures consistently, warning that a number of countries had made their entry requirements stricter.

The deputy police commissioner also announced that the police would step up their monitoring this weekend as well.

He added that if an individual wanted to invoke the contact tracing app #OstaniZdrav (#StayWell) as an exemption from the general ban on travel between municipalities, all they had to do was voluntarily show that the app had been installed on their phones.

In the event of an entire family travelling, it is sufficient if only one member claims this exemption, he said, highlighting that the app opened doors only to travel between the municipalities of the same region and only in the four regions with the best epidemiological status.

Tying unrestricted travel between municipalities to the use of the app has raised concern over privacy protection and discrimination of those who do not own a smart phone or a phone that could accommodate such an app, particularly the elderly and vulnerable groups.

STA, 18 December 2020 - Trial mass voluntary raid testing for the novel coronavirus will go ahead in Ljubljana on Monday, the Health Ministry has confirmed for the STA after Tomaž Gantar, who since resigned as minister, first announced the plan earlier this week. Testing will take place in Congress Square.

Testing will start at 10am on Monday, running until 5pm, and then from 8am to 5pm the following three days. Those who wish to get tested need to bring an identity document and a health insurance card.

The mobile lab will expectedly be able to perform 60 antigen tests per hour, meaning that around 2,000 tests could be performed in the first four days.

The testing will be organised with the help of Ljubljana city authorities. Members of the Ljubljana civil protection, possibly aided by city traffic wardens will provide the security, making sure social distancing rules are observed.

Those who wish to get tested are advised to bring protective face masks.

STA, 18 December 2020 - The epidemiological situation in Slovenia appears to be gradually improving. A total of 1,512 new cases were confirmed on Thursday, some 300 fewer than a week ago, in what was the sixth day running that week-on-week cases declined. A total of 41 Covid-19 patients died, according to the latest government data.

"From Saturday almost 900 fewer infections were confirmed than in the same period last week. This is an encouraging trend," government spokeswoman Maja Bratuša told the daily coronavirus press briefing.

Hospital figure declined as well. There were a total of 1,212 Covid-9 patients in hospital yesterday, down 17 on the day before and the lowest figure since mid-November. The number of patients requiring intensive care dropped by one to 207.

The new infections came from 5,862 tests, which means the positivity rate was 25.8%. Slovenia has so far recorded 103,555 coronavirus cases since the start of the epidemic, meaning almost 5% of the population has had a confirmed infection.

The number of people who died with Covid-19 stands at 2,233, according to data tracker Covid-19 Sledilnik.

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STA, 17 December 2020 - The government decided on Thursday to allow some more shops, including those selling technical goods, to reopen for five days, from 19 to 23 December, after some services reopened on 15 December. What lockdown regime will apply after that is expected to be determined in the coming days, Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek said.

Shops selling technical goods, tree and plant nurseries as well as shops with goods for installation, maintenance and repair services will be able to open across the country. Pet care services as well as some counselling and therapeutic services will also be allowed.

Meanwhile, book shops, shops selling stationary and gifts, shops offering photocopying services and those with baby and children's products will only open in the four regions with a better epidemiological situation - Central Slovenia, Goriška, Obalno-Kraška and Gorenjska.

Real estate agents will also be able to offer their services in these regions, where clothes and footwear shops reopened on Tuesday.

Počivalšek said the government had already discussed the regime after 23 December but the final decision is to be taken in the coming days.

He said it would be largely based on epidemiological trends following the ongoing temporary easing of restrictions in the services sector.

The minister believes that despite the difficult epidemiological situation, it is vital that the economy is functioning.

Slovenia cannot afford a full lockdown during the holiday season, he told the government's afternoon Covid-19 briefing. "We are aware of its economic consequences, so this is not a measure we desire or support."

STA, 17 December 2020 - The government has formally extended the epidemic by another 30 days beginning with 18 December, government Covid-19 spokesman Jelko Kacin said on Wednesday evening. Museums, libraries and galleries have been given the go-ahead to reopen in regions with the best epidemiological status.

The set of restrictions that will be put in place during the holidays has not yet been agreed on, Kacin added. The government discussed the holiday regime that will be imposed to contain the spread of coronavirus, and is expected to reach a decision in the coming days.

In four regions with the most optimal epidemiological situation, central Osrednjeslovenska, Gorenjska in the north-west, coastal Obalno-Kraška and Goriška in the west, libraries, galleries and museums are allowed to reopen starting on Saturday.

Some museums may reopen on the first day, others are likely to wait until next week, the STA learnt after speaking to several museums.

Remote schooling is to remain in place at least until 25 December. After the holidays, a possibility that classroom learning will return has been floated.

Kacin remains optimistic and would like to see students back in school as soon as possible. The government does not wish to jeopardise this possibility by an excessive easing of the restrictions, he told the STA.

Regarding the holiday regime, he said that movement between municipalities could be perhaps permitted temporarily as well get-togethers of a restricted number of persons, however the government must be careful not to aggravate the situation.

The 9pm-6am curfew might be lifted as well and fireworks banned.

Bojana Beović, the head of the government Covid-19 task group, reiterated for commercial broadcaster POP TV on Wednesday that it would be sensible to impose a lockdown between 24 December and 4 January that would be as strict as possible to prepare for the January epidemic wave.

If it transpires that there is no surge in infections after the holidays, certain activities could be reopened, she said, highlighting the importance of social bubbles during the holidays.

The government also approved yesterday a EUR 4.5 million investment in a mobile facility for the Ljubljana UKC medical centre that is meant to boost the number of Covid beds during the epidemic.

STA, 15 December 2020 - Roma settlements in Slovenia are at a high risk of becoming coronavirus hotspots due to poor living conditions, the Črnomelj Union for Roma Community Development has warned at an online conference on Monday, noting that special attention should be devoted to the community as a vulnerable group.

"The situation is alarming since we do not have means in place in Roma settlements to prevent the further spread of the virus," said Zvonko Golobič, the organisation's head.

He pointed out that the Roma had been mostly heeding prevention measures, however, the community faced major problems during the coronavirus crisis.

Many Roma families live together in a single room and thus struggle to self-isolate when needed. Remote schooling poses another issue since children seek help with school tasks from community members and may thus spread the infection.

Numerous families do not have access to drinking water, Golobič highlighted. Add to that poor health among Roma people compared to the general population and it becomes clear that the community is at a greater risk of developing a severe form of Covid-19, he said, urging the authorities to do all they could to prevent the situation from exacerbating.

A study by the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) released last year shows that the average Roma dies almost 20 years earlier than a member of Slovenia's general population. Roma toddlers aged one to four are seven times more likely to die than non-Roma children of that age.

Asked whether the government had an action plan in the event of a surge in infections in Roma settlements, government Covid-19 spokesman Jelko Kacin said it did not.

"Not at the state level. This is a problem that needs to be managed at the local level," he said, adding that local epidemiologists should assess the situation and propose measures to prevent any escalations.

"One cannot perform miracles overnight," Kacin commented on living conditions in Roma settlements, adding that clean water could be provided in settlements where water access was a burning issue but that the water distribution system could not be build so quickly if it had not been built for years.

Medical director of the Novo Mesto hospital Milivoj Piletič said that it did not help the situation that Roma people often did not have their own GPs selected or participated in prevention programmes.

The vaccination rate among Roma children is low, he warned, stressing the importance of raising awareness about Covid-19 and necessary measures.

Golobič thinks such efforts are not enough though. "We will not stop the virus by only raising awareness. Something more must be done."

Bonia Miljavac, the head of the NIJZ Novo Mesto regional unit, said that measures and procedures related to Covid-19 were based on equal treatment of all Slovenian residents.

The same will apply to vaccination procedures, she said, adding that the NIJZ had published a special Covid-19 leaflet translated into various Roma dialects in cooperation with the Roma Information Centre and the Union of Roma Communities.

The Roma community is strong in the north-eastern Prekmurje region, Bela Krajina in the south, Posavje in the east and the south-eastern Dolenjska region. The Council of Europe estimates that roughly 8,500 Roma live in Slovenia, however the figure ranges from 7,000 to 12,000 according to various institutions.

All our stories on the Roma community in Slovenia

STA, 16 December 2020 - Slightly less than 50% of Slovenia's residents intend to get vaccinated against Covid-19, which is a bit more than in November, the latest survey by pollster Valicon shows. Nineteen percent intend to get vaccinated for sure, up three percentage points, while 28% said they would probably get vaccinated.

As many as 57% said they would get vaccinated because it is responsible to others, with another 42% saying they would like to reduce the chance of getting infected.

Twenty-two percent have no intention whatsoever of getting vaccinated (down from 26%), with another 31% saying they would probably not get vaccinated.

Most of them cited distrust in the vaccine as the main reason, with as many as 60% saying the vaccine should be tested longer to prove safe. 43% also fear side effects.

Most of the respondents, 56%, blamed the poor epidemiological situation on people or their poor adherence to restrictive measures, and 38% on the government.

As many as 30% said all politicians should be blamed, with 22% pointing the finger at the Health Ministry's task force, which advises the government on coronavirus.

Just before the latest relaxation of measures kicked in on 15 December, the majority assessed restrictive measures were rather inappropriate.

The share rose from 29% two weeks ago to 41%, the highest so far, with only 14% saying the measures were appropriate.

The largest share so far - 57% - said the measures were too strict. 17% assessed them as adequate and over a quarter as not strict enough.

Valicon said that if the poll were carried out today, the public's response would be probably less negative as some of the measures had been additionally relaxed since the survey was carried out on 11-13 December.

The respondents were however less negative about the government's management of the epidemic's ramifications for the economy and households, although the figures are the worst so far.

The share of those who consider it inappropriate rose considerably, to 38%, while half of those polled said the approach was partly adequate and partly inadequate. 12% labelled it as very adequate.

The share of those who think the situation is worsening rose for the second consecutive time, to almost two thirds from 54% two weeks ago.

The public's trust in the government's handling of the epidemic has also dropped, to the lowest level so far, with 67% not trusting it and 27% trusting it.

The #NewNormal poll, surveying 534 respondents, measures the public's reaction to coronavirus-related measures and its perception of everyday life during the epidemic.

STA, 16 December 2020 - Slovenia confirmed 2,107 coronavirus cases on Tuesday as nearly a third of all tests came back positive, and another 39 Covid-19 fatalities. The total number of cases since the start of the pandemic has thus passed 100,000 and the death toll has risen to 2,190.

Data released by the government show that 6,579 Sars-CoV-2 tests were performed yesterday with a positivity rate of 32%, up 4.95 percentage points compared with the day before.

Still, the number of new cases confirmed yesterday was down by 32 when compared to the figure a week ago, as the daily rise in new infections was down on the same day the week before for the fourth straight day.

The number of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 dropped by 33 to 1,251 after 128 were discharged home and 117 were newly admitted. The number of intensive care unit (ICU) cases rose by seven to 211.

The seven-day average of new cases as of Monday is 1,477, and the 14-day incidence per 100,000 residents is 1,006, government data show.

According to the tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org, there are currently 20,785 active cases in the country, out of a total of 100,389 confirmed so far.

Addressing the daily coronavirus press briefing on Wednesday, Tatjana Lejko Zupanc, the head of the UKC Ljubljana Department of Infectious Diseases, offered a glimmer of hope.

"In recent days we have the impression the situation is calming even if just microscopically. We're not very optimistic, but there's a ray of light because we have a bed free every morning."

However, she said they were "walking the edge" and the proportion of ICU cases was increasing, while the staff was tired, on the verge of burnout, even though committed and they were looking forward to the vaccine.

She said almost half of the Covid-19 patients admitted were older than 75 and that their average age was even higher than in the first wave, at 70, compared to 65 with the average at 69. About 13% of the hospitalised Covid-patients died, which is on a par with the first wave.

Nuška Čakš Jager, deputy head of the Centre for Infectious Diseases at the National Institute of Public Health, noted that the test positivity rate had not been changing much.

Surveys conducted by epidemiologists among those infected indicate that now the primary source of infections is family or household with an increasing proportion of those who cite socialising as the source of infection.

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