STA, 11 November 2020 - Entrepreneurs in Slovenia are not as pessimistic about their businesses in the second wave of coronavirus as they were in the first, the AJPES agency for legal records has said. In October, much fewer private entrepreneurs were deleted from the business registry than in March and much more new businesses were founded.

As the government first declared a Covid-19 epidemic in March, the number of small businesses deleted from the business registry rose significantly. As many as 2,088 decided to close their business the same month, which is double the figure that was recorded in February or January.

However, when the National Assembly passed the first package of measures aimed at helping businesses overcome the crisis at the start of April, businesses started extinguishing at a slower rate. But the closing down of small companies was still much higher than in the same period last year.

In April, 1,512 entrepreneurs gave up on their business and the number fell below 1,000 only in August.

At the end of May, the epidemic was declared over, and several more stimulus packages were passed, but as the number of new infections surged again in the autumn, an epidemic was declared again on 19 October.

According to AJPES data, the number of businesses deleted from the registry again exceeded 1,000 but entrepreneurs seem to be less pessimistic than during the first wave.

In October, a total of 1,274 small business were closed down, which is 39% fewer than in March. Meanwhile, more new businesses opened, as 2,009 people decided to start their business, which is 8% more than in September. In March, only 1,285 new businesses were founded.

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STA, 11 November - The government has adopted the sixth legislative package meant to alleviate the impact of the coronacrisis on businesses and residents, extending once more the furlough scheme subsidies, measures to help liquidity and help with funding of fixed expenses. The package will be presented in more detail on Wednesday.

The government adopted the package, valued at around EUR 1 billion, late on Tuesday in a correspondence session convened immediately after the legislation was presented to the social partners at a session of the Economic and Social Council.

Most of the measures that are being extended or introduced anew will remain in force until the end of the year with the possibility of extension. Some will be in place until mid-2021 or even until the end of next year.

"By extending existing measures and putting in place some new measures in the financial segment, we want to preserve jobs and keep the economy at a level that will allow it to work with full steam when the crisis is over," Finance Minister Andrej Šircelj told the press on Wednesday.

The pay subsidies for furloughed workers, which have been in place since the spring, are being extended until the end of January. No extension is foreseen after that for now, but the subsidies are to be higher than at present.

The government is also extending by six months subsidies for pay of workers working part time, a measure that has been in place since June. Pay compensation for those in quarantine and parents looking after a quarantined child are being extended until the end of June.

One of the most awaited measures in this package, and one that Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek highlighted as the key measure, is the compensation of fixed expenses to businesses whose revenue declined significantly due to the epidemic.

For the last three months of this year, companies with a revenue decline of over 70% will be eligible for compensation equalling 1.2% of their annual income per month; those whose revenue declined by between 40% and 70% will get 0.6% per month.

Overall, compensation will be capped at EUR 1,000 per employee per month or EUR 3 million total for the three-month period. For companies incorporated after 1 October 2019, the cap is EUR 800,000, said Počivalšek.

Rent will be partially or entirely waived for those renting real estate owned by the state or local communities for the period since 19 October, when the epidemic was declared, until the end of the year.

A one-year moratorium on loan repayments is also being extended until the end of the year. New loans taken out this year will also be eligible.

A measures is also being reintroduced allowing taxable persons to put off tax payments for two years or pay tax in instalments if their income was lost due to the epidemic. This was already in place during the first wave of the coronavirus and will now be in effect until the end of the year. After that the measure might get extended until mid-2021.

"This will give companies a better liquidity position," Šircelj said.

The package is also changing the conditions for the state loan guarantee scheme, introduced in May, as guarantees will be granted for liquidity loans of up to 25% of revenue generated in 2019, whereas in the past the cap was at 10% of last year's revenue.

Šircelj acknowledged the guarantee scheme had so far not been substantially used, which he thinks is mostly due to the good liquidity of the economy. "Perhaps it was not utilised to such an extent because there was no need to. Banks have performed their activities without it," he said.

Nursing homes and other social care institutions are to get compensation for drop in revenue due to vacancies caused by the epidemic until the end of next year. Public transport operators will get compensation for loss of revenue until June 2021.

Moreover, several inspectorates are to get powers to check compliance with restrictions in place to prevent the spread of the coronavirus and issue fines.

Under the bill, parents will not have to pay for childcare while kindergartens remain closed and students will not have to pay their dorms, which have also been shut. The bill also provides funds for free meals for poor students during remote learning and also foresees aid to farmers.

Stock companies will be able to hold shareholders meetings online, while parties and associations will be able to assemblies in correspondence form.

Employer organisations have urged the government to also suspend a scheduled increase in the minimum wage on 1 January, but this provision is not included in the legislation. Počivalšek said he has asked trade unions and employers to meet with him and find a solution to this "very sensitive issue".

Prior to the adoption of the bill, the tourism sector warned that the package does not include measures that would allow tourism companies to survive.

"According to our information only one of our proposal has been adopted and only partially at that: non-refundable aid to companies that are seeing significant losses in revenue compared to last year," the Tourism and Hospitality Service said yesterday.

The chamber cited a poll it conducted in which nearly 20% of respondents, tourism companies, expected their revenue to drop between 80% and 90% year-on-year, 8% said they expected a 70-80% drop and another 8% they expected a 60-70% drop.

The Chamber of Trade Craft and Small Business (OZS) meanwhile called on the government once again to allow small businesses, such as specialised shops, chemical cleaners, car washes, hair and beauty salons and leather and textile companies, to reopen.

Počivalšek announced that the government would start preparing new legislation within a month. "The situation is changing so rapidly that we have to adjust with new solutions on a monthly basis."

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STA, 10 November 2020 - Slovenia recorded 1,084 new coronavirus cases from 4,457 tests on Monday as the increase in new cases continues to slow down. The share of positive tests was at slightly over 24%. Nevertheless, hospitalisations remain on the rise, the latest government data show.

There are now 1,171 people in hospital compared to 1,143 yesterday as incoming patients continue to outnumber discharged patients, with 196 in intensive care, up six from yesterday.

The death toll climbed to 605 after 27 people with Covid-19 died.

Slovenia has so far recorded 46,709 infections. The 14-day rolling average of new infections per 100,000 population declined to 1,007, according to the data tracker Covid-19 Sledilnik.

The latest data show that the situation has started to calm down in Gorenjska, the region with the highest share of infections, which went from a peak of over 2,000 new cases per 100,000 in 14 days on 4 November to slightly over 1,600 yesterday, according to Jelko Kacin, the government's Covid-19 spokesman.

Robert Carotta, the coordinator for hospital beds at the Health Ministry, said Gorenjska was currently self-sufficient in terms of the number of beds and the situation is under control.

The situation has been deteriorating in the eastern Pomurje region and the main hospital there, in Murska Sobota, has had to transfer patients to other hospitals in the country.

Pomurje had the second highest 14-day incidence in the country yesterday, at 1,481 new cases per 100,000 persons, according to Covid-19 Sledilnik.

Overall, the situation is gradually improving, Kacin said, but he warned against complacency. He said the situation across Europe remained serious and required people to remain responsible and comply with preventive measures.

Slovenia placed on Czech Republic's travel quarantine list

STA, 9 November 2020 - Slovenia has been added to the Czech Republic's red list of Covid-19 high risk countries. From Monday, Slovenian travellers to the Czech Republic have to either fill out a special form and get tested for coronavirus or go into quarantine.

The Czech Republic's decision to red-list Slovenia was announced on Friday by the Slovenian embassy in Prague.

The special form, which has to be submitted by all EU citizens arriving in the Czech Republic from Covid-19 high risk countries before entering the country, is available on https://plf.uzis.cz/.

Apart from the form, travellers are also required to show a negative coronavirus test.

They can either undergo the test abroad and show the result, not older than 72 hours, immediately after arriving in the country or they can get tested in the Czech Republic, presenting the result no later than five days after the arrival, reads the information posted on the website of the Czech Foreign Ministry.

The country's red list features most European countries, with the exception of Germany and Baltic countries, among others.

The Czech Republic has been one of the worst hit European countries in the second wave of coronavirus infections and one of the countries with toughest measures to contain the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, Slovenia has also recently expanded its list of Covid-19 high risk countries. From Sunday, travellers arriving from all of the country's four neighbours - Austria, Croatia, Hungary and virtually all of Italy, as well as Serbia and Spain have to quarantine. There are almost 20 exceptions to the rule though, including providing a negative test result.

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STA, 10 November 2020 - During the coronavirus epidemic, there were fewer cases of bankruptcies among companies compared to last year, show data by the AJPES agency for legal records. In the first nine months of 2020, a total of 845 companies went bankrupt, down 16% on the same period in 2019 and a 21% drop on the same period in 2018.

In the first quarter of 2020, 344 companies declared bankruptcy, somewhat more than in the January-March period in 2019.

However, in the second quarter this year, when the first Covid-19 wave peaked, the number of bankruptcies (222) declined by as much as 29% compared to the same period in 2019. Moreover, the number of companies going bust in the third quarter of 2020, 279, dropped by 22% year-on-year.

The emergency act to contain the epidemic and mitigate its consequences, passed during the first wave, extended certain insolvency procedure deadlines.

The law also set down that managements were not required to apply for bankruptcy if companies had become insolvent as a result of Covid-19 and lockdown measures. The act was effective until three months after the first epidemic wave.

The government has provided a set of stimulus measures for companies struggling due to the corona crisis, including the furlough and short-time work schemes and a loan payment deferral programme, with most of the measures still effective.

STA, 9 November 2020 - Slovenia logged 464 new coronavirus cases for Sunday as the share of tests returning positive results inched lower still to 22.49%. However, the number of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 has increased and another 24 have died.

Data released by the government show that a total of 2,063 Sars-CoV-2 tests were performed on Sunday, when testing is as a rule scaled down.

Speaking at the daily press briefing on Monday, spokesman Jelko Kacin said the most encouraging piece of news today was that the R0 number had fallen to 0.95, meaning that one infected person passes on the virus to fewer than one other person.

The number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals has increased to 1,143, including 190 in intensive care units, which compares to 1,125 and 176, respectively, the day before. 53 patients were discharged home yesterday.

However, even there Kacin offered graphs showing that the curve of daily discharges is climbing and nearing the falling curve of new admissions. The latter fell from the peak of 160 on 6 November to fewer than 100.

According to tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org, the rolling 14-day average of cases per 100,000 residents has dropped to 1,026.

The country's coronavirus case count has increased to 45,625, but the number of active cases has dropped to 21,514.

The death toll has increased to 578.

Region-wise, Kacin noted that the situation in the worst-affected Gorenjska region was on the mend, while it was worsening in Pomurje in the north-east.

Listing some of the hotspots, Kacin said that Beltinci, a municipality with a population of some 8,200, recorded 30 new infections yesterday, which compares to 40 in the capital Ljubljana.

New premises for Covid-19 patients opened in UKC Ljubljana

STA, 9 November 2020 - The UKC Ljubljana hospital opened on Sunday new premises for Covid-19 patients which currently feature 56 beds. The location may be expanded to receive up to 100 patients.

Announcing the opening in a video statement, UKC Ljubljana director general Janez Poklukar said that the facilities had been made ready in only ten days, as the country is rushing to secure additional beds for Covid-19 patients.

Poklukar added that the new premises in Slovenia's main hospital were also fully equipped when it came to providing food, cleaning, waste collection and logistics.

If the condition of some of the patients deteriorates and they need intensive care, this will be provided at the same location.

The new premises currently feature two zones, and the plan is to have a total of six zones for Covid-19 patients, each being able to receive 25 patients, Poklukar said.

The development is seen as an important part of efforts to fight the epidemic and when Prime Minister Janez Janša visited UKC Ljubljana on 28 October, he urged for a quick transformation of the premises.

Spanning more than 1,700 square metres, the space had been left undeveloped for over a decade, with the plan being that it house a diagnostic and therapeutic service complex.

Poklukar said the UKC Ljubljana employees had been waiting for 12 years for the new premises to be finished, adding that eventually, the extension to the main building would house 44 intensive care units and four operating theatres.

Tatjana Lejko Zupanc, the head of the UKC Ljubljana Department of Infectious Diseases, added that all beds intended for Covid-19 patients in the hospital were occupied, while there were some beds left in the intensive care unit.

Speaking at the daily government briefing today, Poklukar said that the hospital would start immediately accommodating patients there. "If necessary, we'll get involved in resolving the situation in Pomurje."

The eastern Pomurje region has seen an uptick in infections and hospital admissions in recent days and the Murska Sobota Hospital is close to capacity.

Beyond that, Poklukar said the new space would be helpful in the exit strategy, as Covid-19 patients will be concentrated there once the hospital figures start to decline so that other health services can be relaunched when other departments currently housing Covid-19 patients are emptied.

The new space was fully furnished by the contractor for EUR 2.4 million. The hospital had to buy additional beads and equipment, bringing the price tag to EUR 3.3 million. Some of the equipment has been relocated from other parts of the hospital, some was provided by the Civil Protection.

Poklukar thanked everyone involved in getting the new space ready, among them the Civil Protection, the army, the Ljubljana municipality and the hospital employees. "I'm sure UKC Ljubljana currently has the best team it has ever had."

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STA, 8 November 2020 - As many as 889 new Covid-19 infections were recorded on Saturday from a total of 3,918 tests, meaning the share of infections in relation to tests dropped by over three percentage points to roughly 22.7% compared to Friday, the government's coronavirus spokesperson Jelko Kacin said on Twitter on Sunday.

The two-week average of infections per 100,000 residents was 1,058 on Saturday, down from 1,096 the day before.

Covid-related deaths have meanwhile risen by 23 to 554 today compared to yesterday, according to the covid-19.sledilnik.org tracker site.

The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care dropped by two to 176 compared to Friday, putting the number of hospitalised patients at 1,125, up from 1,084 on Friday.

Kacin said the number of patients in intensive care dropped despite the number of those discharged on Saturday - 42 - was more than half lower than on Friday - 93.

Although there were fewer tests carried out on Saturday, which is typical of weekends, he said the trend showed that "the measures are working".

He added that the epidemiological situation was also gradually improving in Gorenjska, the northwestern-region, hit hardest in the autumn wave of the epidemic.

There are currently slightly 22,167 active infections in Slovenia, below the Friday figure of 22,979.

Slightly over 45,000 infections have been recorded in Slovenia since the first case was confirmed on 4 March during the first wave of the epidemic.

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STA, 7 November 2020 - The highest daily Covid-19 death toll was recorded in Slovenia on Friday as 34 people died, bringing the overall death toll to 531. The number of hospitalised patients was up slightly to 1,084, of which 178 required intensive care, or ten more than on Thursday, the government said on Twitter.

The daily coronavirus tally was up by almost 50 to 1,612, but the number of tests was also up on Friday to 6,340. The share of positive tests was down by more than one percentage point to 25.42%.

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A total of 93 patients were discharged from hospital yesterday, but the overall number of hospitalisations was up from 1,069 by 15 persons.

According to the national tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org, there are 22,979 active infections in Slovenia at the moment, while the 14-day average of cases per 100,000 residents has further dropped to 1,096.

The total number of coronavirus cases so far confirmed is 44,270, and the death toll has reached 531.

Leon Cizelj of the Jožef Stefan Institute (IJS) has told the STA that if the latest restrictive measures, taken on 26 October, produced results, the epidemic could be expected to peak in a few days.

The number of patients in hospitals is still the most reliable data, Cizelj said, while noting that the basic reproduction number was currently at 1.5, which meant that the number of positive cases doubled in 12-13 days.

Before the latest measures, the reproduction number was around two. The growth has slowed down, but the slowdown is nevertheless too low for the epidemic to be stopped yet.

As the Health Ministry has changed the testing strategy to include all persons suspected of contracting Covid-19, Cizelj said the effect would show in a few days and that the numbers would perhaps stabilise then.

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STA, 6 November 2020 - Senior coalition figures as well as opposition leaders strongly condemned on Friday the violence that broke out during Thursday's protest in Ljubljana, which was directed against the government's coronavirus measures. The opposition also distanced itself from the riot, rejecting the claims it was behind it and calling to investigate it. 

The government's Covid spokesperson Jelko Kacin said it was irresponsible and inadmissible for riots to be organised in the centre of the capital amid the biggest health crisis in the country.

National Assembly Speaker Igor Zorčič tweeted that blame for the violent protest is on those who resorted to it, and congratulated police officers on decisive action. "Looking for a culprit in the government, opposition or the media takes us away from appeasement and from addressing the distress caused by the epidemic."

Already yesterday, Prime Minister Janez Janša tweeted support for the police officers, saying that peaceful protests when there is no epidemic are a constitutional right, but riots and physical violence against the police are criminal acts and will be punished. He commended the police for being professional.

Similarly, Interior Minister Aleš Hojs commended the police on Twitter, saying "they were well prepared and contained the riot to the greatest extent possible". Noting the police would launch adequate procedures against the perpetrators, he condemned any form of violence.

Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek, the leader of the Modern Centre Party (SMC), stressed that now we need peace and cooperation regardless of different views on the health crisis. "Slovenia is committed to peaceful resolution of conflicts, Slovenian society is committed to co-existence and mutual respect."

"Violence has no place in Slovenian society and cannot be acceptable even as a form of expressing disagreement," tweeted Defence Minister Matej Tonin, the leader of New Slovenia (NSi). He condemned yesterday's violence as irresponsible to say the least while the country is fighting the coronavirus.

Distancing themselves from the riot and condemning it, the opposition LMŠ, SD, Left and SAB said they believed the violence at the protest was staged, announcing they would investigate its background on the parliamentary Home Affairs Committee and the Commission for Oversight of Intelligence and Security Services.

"No violence, be it physical or verbal, has a place in a free and democratic society," SocDem leader Tanja Fajon told the press. She believes the riot was a result of several months of tensions created by the government as it divides people and attacks the media.

She also condemned Hojs's yesterday's statement in which he blamed the riot on the media and the Social Democrats (SD), while urging the public to be tolerant and stressing the opposition would do all in its power to change the government.

Similarly critical of the government was LMŠ leader Marjan Šarec, who believes Minister Hojs's presence at the protest proves the violence was staged.

"The minister did not appear at any peaceful Friday protest," he said, calling on people not to be fooled by such provocations, which he believes are meant to discredit Friday anti-government protests.

Left leader Luka Mesec said the government would have to explain how the police had known in advance that Thursday's protest would turn violent.

While the National Assembly worked normally on over 20 Fridays when protests were held, this Thursday MPs were told to leave the premises by 4pm because the police expected violence at the protest scheduled for the afternoon, Mesec said.

Both Mesec and SAB leader Alenka Bratušek recalled the anti-government protests in 2012 when "thugs were sent by one political party" to mix among the protesters.

STA, 5 November 2020 - The closure of restaurants, hotels and other tourism facilities in the wake of Covid-19 has put companies in the sector in an unenviable position. Some have already been forced to lay off staff, but most of them are hoping the planned sixth stimulus package will help preserve jobs.

The key measures to protect jobs in tourism and hospitality would be to cover the total cost of the furlough scheme and to compensate business for income loss.

Unemployment was not on the rise in Slovenia in October despite partial lockdown. The companies did not repeat mistakes from the first wave of the epidemic when they were quick to let go workers and re-hire them after the government measures stepped in.

The Gorenjska unit of the Employment Service received only one announcement of major downsizing in tourism and hospitality in the autumn, Drago Perc with the unit told the STA, noting that one company said it would lay off some 30 staff.

Many companies are making use of the furlough scheme in the meantime, however Marcela Klofutar, manager of Vila Podvin and Linhart hotel in Radovljica, believes that the measure is not sufficient.

In the spring businesses were refunded the entire compensation for furloughed workers, meaning 80% of their pay, whereas now they only get EUR 870, which means that employers have to cover the rest, that is at least EUR 1000 per gross pay, she said, adding that businesses closed due to the epidemic cannot afford that.

Numerous companies in the sector are without any income. Vila Podvin is trying to get by until the sixth stimulus law is passed to see whether the pay compensation measure would be the same as in the spring.

"If that is not the case, people would have to register as unemployed," she warned, pointing to Austria as an example of good practice since the country has ensured compensation totalling 80% of last year's revenue.

Sava Turizem, one of the major Slovenian tourism companies, is also stressing the importance of stimulus measures. If the government does not endorse measures proposed by the tourism sector, then layoffs could not be avoided, said the company.

Given the sector has been worst hit by Covid-19 ramifications, additional boosts are necessary, including direct one-off aid to offset losses and a new edition of holiday vouchers, said Sava Turizem.

Meanwhile, some are not relying on government support but only on themselves. Matija Blažič, managing Hotel Ribno in lakeside resort Bled, has already laid off 40% of his employees.

"If the state measures were sufficient and announced in advance, it might have been different, however everything is passed last minute in Slovenia," he said.

"There does not exist a tourism company that could pay the entire team for half a year without work." Lakeside resort Bled might see better days around Easter next year, according to him.

A pessimistic outlook for the winter tourism season is shared by Janez Hrovat, the mayor of mountain resort Kranjska Gora and also a businessman trying to survive in the struggling sector.

He believes many, particularly those who invested heavily prior to the epidemic, will be in trouble and hopes the second wave will bring similar measures to those in the first.

Blaž Veber, the head of Turizem Kranjska Gora, has also urged stepping up boosts and following the examples of Austria and Germany regarding compensating revenue loss.

He believes the government measures have been effective so far, however the situation is worsening and the sector does not require help but compensation since it is not its fault it cannot function. It would probably take years to get to the pre-Covid level, he added.

Many providers of tourism services as well as owners of bars and restaurants are also concerned about having generated negative cash flow during the coronavirus crisis, which is thus expected to be followed by the debt crisis, heard yesterday's online debate on tourism after Covid-19.

The discussion, hosted by the Ljubljana School of Economics and Business, featured the head of Fraport Slovenija airport services Janez Krašnja, the head of the Association of Slovenian Hoteliers Gregor Jamnik and restauranteur Martin Jezeršek.

The last two urged the government to provide grants in the sixth stimulus package, warning that the debt crisis would halt the development of the sector.

Krašnja meanwhile said that the aviation industry has had a catastrophic year and that the recovery could last until 2024 at the minimum.

However, air passengers are still expected to be those who spend the most and the industry will have to adjust to the new normal, he said, adding that coronavirus tests could become part of airport checks in the future.

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STA, 6 November 2020 - Slovenia's daily coronavirus tally dropped by over a hundred to 1,564 on Thursday as the share of positive tests inched down to 26.53%, and the daily death toll fell to 26 from 30 the day before. Hospitalisations kept increasing but at a slower pace and data presented by the government suggest the peak has been passed.

Government data show the latest cases come from 5,895 Sars-Cov-2 tests on Thursday, roughly on a par with the day before, while the positivity rate has decreased by almost two percentage points.

Presenting fresh data, government spokesman Jelko Kacin also said that the R0, the figure showing how many people one infected person passes the virus on, had dropped to 1, which means the outbreak is no longer expanding.

What is more, the 14-day and 7-day incidence graphs he presented at the press briefing on Friday show the peak had been reached days ago with the curve well on its path down and a simulation suggesting it could flatten sometime in early December.

According to tracker site sledilnik.org, the rolling 14-day average of cases per 100,000 residents fell to 1,113 on Thursday.

"The trend is good (...) if the trend continues the same way we can look forward to the future and can consider what the government could do next week," Kacin said, offering the promise of an easing of measures as the cabinet reviews restrictions next Thursday.

However, the number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals keeps increasing, but even there Kacin noted that the growth is slowing down.

Hospitalisations increased to 1,069 as 92 patients were discharged home, and the number of patients in intensive care units rose by a further seven to 168.

Yesterday, there were 50 new admissions when deducting discharges and fatalities, which compares to 76 at the peak on 31 October.

The tracker site shows the total number of coronavirus cases so far confirmed in the country has exceeded 42,600 with 23,336 cases still active. The death toll has inched close to 500, at 497.

All of Austria, Croatia, Hungary on Slovenia's quarantine list

STA, 5 November 2020 - The government has amended the coronavirus status of several countries as a result of which the whole of Croatia, Austria and Hungary plus Serbia will be on Slovenia's quarantine list starting from Monday, as will almost entire Italy.

Calabria will be the only Italian region not yet on Slovenia's red list, as the amended decree on the movement across the border takes effect, expectedly on Monday.

This is even as Calabria will be one of the four red regions that Italy will impose the tightest coronavirus restrictions on starting from Friday.

Meanwhile, even those parts of Croatia, Austria and Hungary that have so far been on Slovenia's orange list are being moved to the red, which entails mandatory ten-day quarantine, except for any of several exceptions.

Also moved to the red list are the whole of Serbia, Spain, Cyprus, Bulgaria, the Vatican and San Marino.

The list is thus being extended from 116 to 147 countries, some of those having only certain administrative regions on the list.

Arrivals from those countries can avoid quarantine with a negative coronavirus test, or if they fall under one of the 17 exceptions such as daily migrant workers, international hauliers, persons in transit and members of foreign official delegations.

Other exceptions include those attending to urgent business, having health examinations or surgeries, or owners of property in a neighbouring country. Some exceptions also include close family or household members when travelling together with the person eligible.

Presenting the latest changes to the government measures, Interior Minister Aleš Hojs said the government advised against all non-essential travel outside the country anyway.

He said the same restrictions to travel across the border as for Slovenian citizens also apply to foreigners residing in Slovenia who have relatives in other countries of the former Yugoslavia.

"As you arrive on the border and you don't produce [proof of] one of the reasons for the crossing of border municipalities, you will be fined," said Hojs.

This was after a line of vehicles stretching several kilometres formed at the Obrežje crossing with Croatia on Friday as many arrived there without documents proving their eligibility to travel.

The government today also extended the green list of Covid-19 safe countries that only comprises third countries to add Japan, South Korea, Rwanda, Singapore and Thailand. Arrivals from those countries can enter without quarantine.

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