STA, 19 November 2020 - Slovenia has logged more than 2,000 new coronavirus cases for the second day running as a further 45 patients with Covid-19 have died, bringing the death toll to 964.

According to government spokesman Jelko Kacin, 2,064 of the 6,806 Sars-CoV-2 tests performed on Wednesday came back positive, which means as many as 30.33%, up almost four percentage points from the day before.

"We're all deeply worried, in particular doctors and other health personnel, what the situation will be in a few days," Kacin said at the morning press briefing on Thursday, urging on everyone to stay at home as much as possible.

He said though that the situation in hospitals improved slightly; 1,238 patients with Covid-19 were being treated in hospitals yesterday, 42 fewer than the day before, 205 of them in intensive care, four fewer than the day before, as 78 were discharged home.

The country's overall coronavirus case count has now passed 61,000 as the number of active cases has inched up again to 19,911, according to tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org.

The rolling 14-day average per 100,000 residents has risen again to 950.

The region with the highest infection rate remains Pomurje in the north-easternmost part of the country, at 1,628 infections per 100,000 residents as of 17 November, while infections are also rising in Korška in the north and Podravje in the north-east.

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STA, 18 November 2020 - Slovenia recorded 2,013 new coronavirus cases from 6,813 tests on Tuesday, for a positivity rate of 29.5%. A total of 43 persons with Covid-19 died, show official government data.

There are currently 1,280 coronavirus patients in hospital, up five from the day before, of which 209 require intensive care, one more than yesterday.

Slovenia has recorded 58,950 positive cases since the start of the epidemic, while the death toll has now risen to 919, according to data tracker Covid-19 Sledilnik.

The last time there were more than 2,000 daily cases was on 10 November. The daily number of deaths is the second highest since the start of the epidemic after a record 45 cases yesterday.

Jelko Kacin, the government's Covid-19 spokesman, noted that nursing homes were once again becoming major hotspots: one in five of the infections confirmed yesterday were among nursing home residents or staff.

He said there were now over 2,100 infections among the roughly 19,000 residents after 312 tested positive yesterday, and 845 infections among the roughly 12,300 members of the staff, up 59 in a day.

Kacin also stressed that hospitals remain at the limit of their capacity. "The virus exists, it is spreading quickly and it's time we all behave as if we're infected," he said.

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STA, 17 November 2020 - Prime Minister Janez Janša indicated in an interview Tuesday that some of the restrictive measures may remain in place until Christmas, but he was hopeful they will not have to be as strict.

"It is already certain that notwithstanding the speed of production of vaccines, immunisation will not make enough of a difference by the end of the year to allow us to relax all measures.

"Some of the measures will definitely be in place then. We hope they will not be as strict," he said in an interview for Planet TV when asked what kind of Christmas celebration people may expect.

The statement comes a day after Slovenia tightened existing measures, including by closing all non-essential stores and suspending public transportation. The government also decided to extend the formal declaration of the epidemic by a month, until mid-December.

Janša made a renewed appeal to all Slovenians to heed restrictions which he said saved lives. "You cannot stop the virus with a law or a measure, we can only stop it with reason and solidarity."

He was hopeful that with the latest number of fatalities, the people will "sober up", while noting that there is no European country in which the second wave of the epidemic would be milder than the first.

Health Minister Tomaž Gantar said today that the measures will not necessarily depend on there being a formal epidemic declared. He thinks that some measures might be cautiously relaxed in two weeks allowing certain services to reopen.

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STA, 17 November 2020 - A record number of Covid-19 patients died in Slovenia on Monday, 45, bringing the death toll to 876. A total of 1,388 new infections were confirmed from 5,326 tests and 1,275 people needed hospitalisation, up 11 from the day before. 208 patients needed intensive care, up one from the day before, the government said on Twitter.

The share of positive tests on Monday dropped to 26% after standing at 28% on Sunday. On Monday, 92 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospital, while 24 patients in hospitals died.

The number of new hospitalisations remains much higher than the number of discharged patients, which is what "we are worried about", government spokesperson Jelko Kacin told the press today.

Slovenia had 19,537 active cases yesterday, up from 19,325 on Sunday, according to the tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org. So far, 56,932 infections have been confirmed in Slovenia.

The rolling 14-day average of cases per 100,000 residents rose from 922 to 932.

According to Nuška Čakš Jager from the National Institute for Public Health (NIJZ), the epidemiological situation in Europe and the world is still serious but some European countries are seeing a downturn in the number of new cases.

On the other hand, some countries, for example Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Sweden, the UK, and Slovenia are seeing a surge in new cases.

Only the Czech Republic, Belgium and Hungary have higher 14-day average of deaths per 100,000 people than Slovenia. In terms of new infections per 100,000 people, Slovenia is preceded by the Czech Republic, Austria, Luxembourg and Lichtenstein.

In Slovenia, Pomurska and Gorenjska remain the regions with the highest 14-day incidence, Čakš Jager said.

The deputy head of the infectious diseases centre at the NIJZ said the number of new daily infections would have to drop well below 300 for the epidemiologists to be able to trace the sources of infections again.

"We manage to call and question some 1,200 people a day," she said, adding that identifying close contacts of those infected or even calling everyone infected was not possible despite help from students and staff from local NIJZ units.

Čakš Jager also presented data for infections in schools and kindergartens showing that the number of infections started dropping from the eighth week of the school year. She said the most infections had been recorded among high school students, while the share of infected kindergarten children was low.

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STA, 16 November 2020 - The government decided on Monday to extend the Covid-19 epidemic declared as of 18 October for 30 days by another 30 days - until 17 December, the government said in a press release.

The new decree enters into force on Wednesday, 18 November, a day after the one-month epidemic declared in October expires, the government said after today's correspondence session.

Slovenia is amid a second wave of the epidemic, with infections still spreading fast among the population, which calls for extending the epidemic declaration for the entire country.

The release noted all regions had reached or exceeded the incidence rate which calls for declaring the epidemic, the legal basis for which is the contagious diseases law.

Before the epidemic was declared in October, the government said it would take into account three indicators when declaring it.

A 14-day average of 140 cases per 100,000 residents, 250 Covid-19 hospitalisations and 50 patients needing intensive care would have to be reached.

The data provided today show the 14-day average fell to 922, Covid-19 hospital admissions rose to 1,264 and the number of patients in intensive care was up to 205.

The declaration of the epidemic gives the government and public health authorities more leeway in organising the response effort and coordinating the actions of the civil protection and emergency services. A national emergency response plan is typically set in motion.

STA, 16 November 2020 - Slovenia recorded 501 positive coronavirus tests for Sunday and 34 more fatalities among patients with Covid-19 as the test positivity rate remained a high 28%. Fresh data from the government show that a total of 1,792 tests for Sars-CoV-2 were performed on Sunday, the day when testing is as a rule scaled down.

Covid-19 hospital admissions rose by a further three to 1,264 with the number of patients in intensive care units increasing by eight to a record 205 from the previous day despite 38 being discharged from hospital.

The latest deaths meanwhile bring the death toll among patients with Covid-19 to 831.

A total of 55,543 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in the country so far with 19,325 still active, according to the tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org.

The rolling 14-day average of cases per 100,000 residents has fallen to 922. The reproduction value has meanwhile dropped to 0.93, government coronavirus speaker Jelko Kacin said at the morning press conference. He also said the virus continued to spread too fast in Slovenia.

Currently, there are some 850 active coronavirus cases among a total of nearly 20,000 members of nursing home staff, and some 1,000 among healthcare staff, according to data from the Health Ministry and the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ), respectively.

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STA, 16 November 2020 - Public transportation in Slovenia is suspended from Monday, with the exception of taxis and organised transport services for workers. New border crossing restrictions also become effective on Monday as part of stricter measures to stem the epidemic. Exemptions from mandatory quarantine for people entering Slovenia have been narrowed.

All inter-city and city transport services are suspended same as they were during the spring lockdown. What is allowed is transport services organised by employers for their workers and taxi services.

Up to six co-workers may share the same vehicle when driving to or from work, according to the Infrastructure Ministry.

Regarding the toughening up of border restrictions, a special exemption that allowed owners of property or a vessel in neighbouring countries to visit for 48 hours without needing to quarantine has been scrapped by a government decree passed on Thursday.

Moreover, 72-hour visits to relatives across the border are no longer allowed unless in the case of visits to EU and Schengen zone countries.

Cross-border migrant workers now have a 14-hour window to return to Slovenia after going to work in a neighbouring country.

Certain types of emergency business and personal visits used to be exempt from mandatory quarantine for stays of up to 48 hours. This time window has now been narrowed to 12 hours and only emergency business visits are allowed.

Persons who arrive from a red-listed country are still able to end quarantine prematurely if they get tested, but they need to quarantine for at least five days.

They can still avoid quarantining if they produce a negative test on arrival that was not done more than 48 hours ago.

All Slovenia's neighbouring countries are on its red Covid-19 list.

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STA, 16 November 2020 - In a bid to contain the second wave of the coronavirus epidemic, the government has toughened up restrictions, including by temporarily closing all non-essential shops. The measure is effective from Monday and comes with few exceptions, such as grocery stores and shops deemed vital for essential needs.

The government announced a tightening of the lockdown on Thursday after it made certain restrictions looser last week. Certain stores had been allowed to re-open, however they will have to close again as of Monday.

Stores selling groceries and personal care products as well as those offering farm produce are allowed to remain open, but clothing, shoe and tech stores are not listed among the exceptions.

But even grocery stores are not allowed to sell technical goods, and many stores have reportedly spent the weekend sweeping non-compliant goods from the shelves.

Not subject to the stricter lockdown restrictions are pharmacies and other stores selling medical supplies, marketplaces, agricultural supply stores, gas stations, banks and insurance providers, post offices, delivery services and workshops.

Moreover, chimney sweep services are allowed in the event only one person is present in the room where chimney cleaning is performed, and so are construction works if there is no contact with clients.

News-stands, remote sales and in-person pick-up services are also allowed as well as other vital services to maintain public health and safety. There is no time limit on food delivery services.

However, the latest decree specifically sets down that consuming food or beverages in public spaces is banned.

The number of persons in enclosed stores remains capped at one customer per 30 m2 or at a single customer if the space is smaller than 30 m2.

Open-air marketplaces can accommodate one customer per 10 m2.

Shopping centres are required to make sure there is one customer per 30 m2 taking into account the entire building as well as to comply with individual store rules. They must provide separate entry and exit points as well.

Shops are allowed to operate only if all public health recommendations are heeded and contact with customers is reduced to a minimum.

The government is to review the restrictions every seven days to assess whether they are still necessary. All the new measures are expected to last at least 14 days though.

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STA, 15 November 2020 - Slovenia recorded 920 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, having performed 3,563 tests. 32 Covid-19 patients died, taking the national death toll to 797, fresh official data show. Hospitalisations continued to rise, however the number of patients in intensive care slightly declined.

Saturday's total of new cases is almost half the figure recorded on Friday, however the number of yesterday's tests is also significantly lower compared to the day before.

On Saturday, the number of hospitalised patients grew by 37 to 1,261. The number of ICU patients meanwhile declined by five to 201. A total of 44 were discharged home, the government reported on Twitter.

So far, Slovenia has recorded 55,042 infections, including 19,381 which are currently active, some 2% down on Friday.

The rolling 14-day average of infections per 100,000 citizens continues to fall, currently standing at 925, according to the national tracker Covid-19 Sledilnik.

The positivity rate was meanwhile almost 26% on Saturday, roughly on par with Thursday's and Friday's figures.

Aleš Rozman, director of the Golnik University Clinic of Respiratory and Allergic Diseases, told the STA today that the current epidemiological situation was difficult to interpret mostly due to changes in the testing protocol in the past fortnight.

He advises steering clear of false optimism. The epidemiological trends should be monitored for another week or two, he added.

"If the number of hospital admissions in the recent days nevertheless mirrors a decline in the number of those that are ill, then that is a good sign," he said, adding that the number of new hospitalisations was stabilising in the past two or three days.

However, what it seems to be a promising trend could be misleading and merely a result of certain Covid-19 patients staying at home instead of being admitted to hospital due to Slovenia running low on hospital capacities.

On the other hand, the epidemic could be truly letting up. If that is the case, Rozman warns that mitigation efforts should not run out of steam either since the country's healthcare capacities have been pushed to their limits.

Rozman, also a member of the government Covid-19 advisory task force, urged citizens to heed prevention protocols 24-7.

"I fail to see why the measures should be loosened when Slovenia has one of the worst situations in the world regarding Covid-19 at the moment," Rozman said.

Visiting the Jesenice general hospital, Prime Minister Janez Janša meanwhile said today that the Gorenjska region needed boosted healthcare capacities as soon as possible and that the government was determined to provide them, according to an announcement on the government's website.

The northern region has been pushing hard for a new regional hospital. The epidemic has further revealed that Gorenjska needs such an upgrade that would increase the number of hospital beds, Robert Carotta, the Covid beds coordinator with the Health Ministry, said a few days ago.

The Jesenice hospital is too small since it only has some 200 functional beds per 130,000 residents, he said. According to the relevant European standards, the hospital would need 600 beds.

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The covers and editorials from leading weeklies of the Left and Right for the work-week ending Friday, 13 November 2020. All our stories about coronavirus and Slovenia are here

Mladina: Criminal liability of govt over Covid-19

STA, 13 November 2020 – Mladina, the left-wing weekly, says that the puzzle showing Slovenia as a country with one of the largest Covid-19 death tolls per million people is being slowly but surely put together, and calls for criminal liability of the decision-makers in the government who the magazine believes are responsible for the situation.

Under the headline Criminal Liability, the left-leaning weekly says that the government has "consciously failed to establish a system in which those who should stay in isolation are provided with compensation for the loss of income".

A system which would solve this problem was put into the fifth coronavirus legislative package, which entered into force only on 24 October, two weeks ago and two weeks after the government had imposed a lockdown because the epidemic had got out of hand.

The media were warning the government about this already during the first wave, but they were ignored, and "today, the price of this unbelievable ignorance of the actual social situation is being paid by the entire Slovenia".

In the coming weeks, this price will be paid in the most brutal way by residents of care homes, Mladina says, criticising Minister Janez Cigler Kralj, who is in charge of social affairs, for failure to introduce regular and systematic testing of care home staff.

"Why they haven't been tested? This is an utter defeat that no other country is experiencing", and Cigler Kralj has done nothing while being nothing but a "sweet talker".

This also holds true for Education Minister Simona Kustec, as the education system has entered the second Covid-19 wave totally unprepared. Ahead of the new school year, her ministry took ineffective and illogical measures, which could simply not be realised without additional funds and staff.

"People should start thinking about criminal liability of these people, who have failed to do their jobs. They are sitting in the government," concludes the commentary.

Demokracija: Education in the West undermines patriotism

STA, 12 November 2020 - The latest trend in the West is teaching children that the history of their countries is horrible, based on racism, Christianity, sexism, and homophobia so as to undermine patriotism and pave the way to multiculturalism, the right-wing weekly Demokracija says in its latest editorial.

The weekly says the "education system that is convincing children how great multiculturalism is" is even more destructive than the media that are distancing themselves from Slovenia's independence like the public broadcaster did in case of a show presenting independence efforts 30 years ago.

"The goal is to use the education system and other subsystems to undermine patriotism and create a society of some kind of artistic performance where there will be no restrictions and everyone will be equal."

This idea is appealing to young people whose personalities are not fully developed yet. They are attracted by the rule of the street, and this results in riots, hooliganism and deliberate causing of unrest, which could be seen in the capital not only last Thursday but ever since the centre-right government took over.

"Encouraged by months of incitement by the media mainstream and the left opposition, the brainwashed 'protesters' can no longer make logical conclusions themselves, which is only an introduction into something much sinister.

"This is how it all started in Europe, where now not just militant leftist groups are raging the streets but where migrants walk around killing the autochthonous population - exclusively because people such as [Slovenian SocDems leader] Tanja Fajon were on the covers and in prime time shows saying that the right response to violence and Islamic terrorism is 'solidarity and lighting of candles'.

"Such liberal and emphatic ideology is nothing but a suicide pill," Demokracija says under the headline Suicide Pill.

All our posts in this series are here