Ljubljana related
STA, 25 September 2020 - Ivan Gale, the man who came forward with accusations of flawed procurement of medical supplies during the first wave of coronavirus in Slovenia, is reportedly facing the threat of losing his job at the Agency for Commodity Reserves.
The public broadcaster TV Slovenija reported that Gale was summoned by the agency's director Tomi Rumpf for an interview before he is handed a dismissal notice on suspicion that he closed detrimental contracts for the supply of personal protective equipment (PPE).
Another charge against him is inappropriate communication with the media.
The report said that the agency's former director Anton Zakrajšek and his deputy Alojz Černe, who signed most of the contracts for the acquisition of PPE, had also been summoned to explain themselves in the face of allegations of wrongdoing.
Gale has become one of the faces of Friday's anti-government protests after speaking out for TV Slovenia in April about allegedly contentious deals at the agency involving PPE and other medical supplies.
He filed criminal complaints against the agency's current director Rumpf and Economy Minister Zdravko Počivalšek in early August alleging wasteful use of public funds under a contract with Hmezad TMT for the supply of face masks.
Gale filed another criminal complaint against the minister in late August alleging at least EUR 1.2 million in damage to public funds as a result of a deal with the company Acron.
The Agency for Commodity Reserves said certain procedures were under way in line with applicable law and based on the findings of an audit of past activities.
It confirmed three employees were subject to these procedures, but these were "in no way connected with the public actions of individuals or the public disclosure of individual cases of purchases of medical and protective equipment."
Soon after Gale went public with his accusations some pointed out that it was in fact Gale who had signed multiple contentious contracts while he was standing in for Anton Zakrajšek.
Speaking for TV Slovenija, Gale said one of the allegations against him was that he forged an order form in April for logistic services which were performed and paid.
He said the accusations against him were unfounded and announced that he would seek recourse in court. "I have the feeling these are acts of revenge against me."
STA, 25 September 2020 - The number of new coronavirus infections reached a new high on Thursday, as 192 of the 3,645 tests came back positive, according to government data. The total number of infections recorded so far exceeded 5,000.
A total of 60 Covid-19 patients were in hospital yesterday, 15 of whom needed intensive care. Eleven were discharged from hospital.
No patient with Covid-19 died, leaving the death toll at 145.
The number of tests conducted on Thursday is also record high. So far, 212,756 tests have been conducted, the government said on Twitter.
The Health Ministry told the STA today that the National Institute of Public Health had corrected the figures for Wednesday from 122 to 121, as one case was registered twice.
Thus, 5,007 infections have been confirmed in Slovenia so far.
New cases were recorded throughout the country on Thursday, most in Ljubljana, where almost a quarter of the latest cases was detected (52). Domžale and Črna na Koroškem follow with seven cases each, and Maribor and Celje with six each. Five cases were detected in Slovenske Konjice and four each in Kranj and Medvode.
Currently, 1,509 cases are active in the country, of which 338 are in the capital.
Government Covid-19 spokesperson Jelko Kacin told the press today the government recommended to companies to switch to working from home where this is possible and introduce temperature screenings for employees coming to work.
He said nobody wanted another lockdown and that the government was doing all it could to keep public life and the economy running, and that each individual and company must do their part.
He said the cabinet would wait for the figures for Friday and discuss the situation during the weekend before taking any steps. It also wants to wait for the proposals of its task force which are expected on Monday, when the government is scheduled to hold a formal meeting.
Asked which additional measures are being discussed at this point, Kacin said the government could reduce the number of people that can gather in a public place from 10 to 6.
He also urged against any non-essential private or public gatherings, stressing that the government did not want to introduce any more legal restrictions but was appealing to people to behave in a responsible way.
Asked why an epidemic is not declared now given that the country has a lot more infections than in the spring, the government official said that a lot more was known about the virus now and that many preventive protocols had been put in place since.
Due to a growing demand for swabs taking, community health centres have been expanding their testing points and extending working hours.
Health Ministry adviser Simona Repar Bornšek said after Tuesday's meeting with directors of health centres that from now on all health institution were allowed to conduct testing.
General manager of the UKC Ljubljana hospital Janez Poklukar told the STA today the hospital could accept 105 Covid-19 patients, including 25 in intensive care without interrupting the hospital's regular operations. If more patients will need treatment, some programmes will have to be shut down, he said.
So far, more than 60 of the hospital's staff have also been infected, almost exclusively outside the hospital.
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STA, 25 September 2020 - The January-August period saw the number of tourist arrivals plummet by 47% to almost 2.4 million, while tourist nights dropped by 40% to almost 7.1 million compared to the same eight-month period in 2019, figures released by the Slovenian Statistics Office (SURS) on Friday show.
The number of domestic tourists rose by 26% in the eight-month period, with nights they generated rising by 34%.
Foreign arrivals plummeted by 70% in this period, and the nights they generated by 67%, SURS data for January-August show.
The drop in foreign tourists was meanwhile partly offset by domestic tourist, who largely opted to spend their summer holidays in Slovenia.
As a result, the summer season - July and August - saw a mere 16% drop in overall tourist nights to 4.6 million compared to last year's summer tourist season.
More than two thirds of all nights in the two months were generated by Slovenian residents, whose tourist nights rose by 159%.
The number of nights generated by foreign tourists in July-August meanwhile plummeted by 65%.
The bulk of nights generated by foreign tourists in the two months were generated by Germans, yet the figure was nevertheless by 22% lower.
Drops in nights by tourists from other countries were even bigger, standing at -67% for the Dutch and for Italians, at -42% for Austrians and -49% for Hungarians.
Drops by nights generated by Australians, South Koreans, Swedes, New Zealanders, Maltese and Israelis were at more than 95%.
Israelis for instance generated around 128,000 nights in the 2019 summer season as opposed to below 600 this year.
At municipality level, the bulk of tourist nights in July and August were spent in the mountains (1.6 million), on the coast (1.2 million) and in spas (929,000).
Compared to last year's summer season, the sharpest fall in tourist nights was witnessed by the city of Ljubljana (-75%), followed by other urban municipalities (-45%).
Municipalities with spas and on the coast meanwhile reported about upbeat tourist night figures - up by 9% and 4%, respectively.
The coastal municipality of Piran led the way with the biggest number of nights among all of Slovenia's 212 municipalities at 686,000, up 1% from July-August in 2019.
The figures for the second quarter meanwhile show that at least 15% of Slovenia's residents aged at least 15 went on a private trip, a drop of two thirds over the same period last year. A third of around 1.5 million residents who did not go on a trip cited the pandemic as the main reason.
This year's April-June quarter saw the same number of private trips as the January-March quarter, yet considerably fewer than the second quarter last year.
The April-June period has been in recent years a busy tourist period with around a million private trips taking place. This year's figure reached only some 410,000.
An increasing number, or 52%, opted to go on a private trip around Slovenia, whereas Croatia topped the list of destinations outside the homeland (92%).
STA, 24 September 2020 - Slovenia recorded 122 new coronavirus infections in 2,848 tests on Wednesday. While two patients died, the number of Covid-19 patients in hospital remained stable, fresh government data show.
The number of patients in hospital dropped by two to 63, but 13 were in intensive care, three more than the day before.
Two persons with Covid-19 died, increasing the death toll since the start of the epidemic to 145.
Slovenia now has 1,427 active cases out of a total of 4,816 cases confirmed since the start of the pandemic.
New infections were confirmed in 53 municipalities yesterday. Ljubljana recorded 24 new infections, followed by Maribor, Domžale and Črna na Koroškem with eight, and Kranj, Kamnik, Slovenska Bistrica, Pivka and Litija with four cases each.
In the last two weeks, Slovenia recorded 68.4 infections per 100,000 people. 2,526 people are currently quarantined.
Nuška Čakš Jager from the National Institute of Public Heath said most of the infections were community transmissions, while the share of imported cases has been decreasing. Recent imported cases came from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo and Austria.
Since the virus is spreading throughout Europe, government Covid-19 spokesperson Jelko Kacin said today that in the absence of an EU agreement regarding the crossing of the border, the Slovenian government would have to decide on potential changes to its list of epidemiologically safe countries.
He said he expected Austria and Hungary, which have seen a surge in new infections, could be removed from the list of safe countries.
In Slovenia, the number of infections has been rising among medical staff and in care homes. Currently more women than men are infected and most of the cases are aged between 45 and 54.
Two members of primary school staff and three kindergarten teachers tested positive along with five primary school students, three high school students and two kindergarten children.
One care home resident and one employee tested positive on Wednesday. Infections were also confirmed in three employees and one resident of a centre for persons with disabilities. On Tuesday, the CUDV centre for persons with disabilities in Črna na Koroškem was mentioned as a new hotspot.
A care home in Rogaška Slatina had one resident test positive on Wednesday and one patient receiving palliative care died during the night, the head of the home, Kristina Kampuš, told the STA.
The head of the Danica Vogrinec care home in Maribor, Marko Slavič, told the press today that the institution still had 40 infected residents, 33 of whom have only mild symptoms. Three have been transferred to the hospital, while four of the infected residents have died.
But Slavič said that in the last five years, 50.4 people died on average at the home between January and September. This year 48 people died. "So Covid did not make this situation worse," he said.
No additional infections were confirmed after yesterday's testing, so Slavič thinks the situation is under control.
Currently, 22 members of the home's staff are quarantined. None of them have any health problems and some of the infected have had no symptoms.
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STA, 24 September 2020 - The government has endorsed the fifth stimulus package. Chief among the measures is an extension of the furlough scheme until year's end for all industries, albeit with stricter eligibility criteria, Labour Minister Janez Cigler Kralj announced on Thursday.
The latest stimulus package extends some measures and introduces new ones based on the needs expressed in talks with social partners, the minister said. The main goals are to preserve jobs and protect the most vulnerable groups, especially the elderly, and prevent the further spread of infections.
The key measures are the extension of the furlough scheme, an introduction of a universal basic income for the self-employed, and measures to cut waiting times in health.
The minister stressed the package had been drawn up in dialogue with social partners. About four-fifths of the measures have been coordinated with social partners, which he said was a good basis for the passage of the bill.
To help the labour market, the government decided to extend the furlough scheme until the end of the year for all industries, but introduce a slightly stricter eligibility criteria, which is an at least 30% drop in turnover compared to last year. So far, a 10% drop was required for eligibility.
The use of the measure has been dropping and the idea is to have employers cut working hours instead, but some companies still need the scheme so it has been decided to extend it, Cigler Kralj said.
The fifth package also extends until the end of the year the quarantine provisions for employees. It introduces a compensation equalling 80% of pay for parents of children up to grade 5 who are ordered to quarantine.
When a self-employed person would be ordered to quarantine for 10 days, they would receive an income support of EUR 250.
The latest proposal also reintroduced a universal basic income for the self-employed who cannot perform their activities or whose business has declined by over 30% on last year. The measure was in force during the epidemic.
From October through December they would be eligible for a EUR 700 universal basic income plus a waiver of social security contributions in the amount of EUR 400.
Another key measure is to help cut waiting times in healthcare, most notably by securing additional funding for specific health services where waiting times are currently the longest, including for private providers.
This was one of the things that upset trade unions so much that they walked out of last night's session of the Economic and Social Council.
But the government did scrap its original proposal of bonuses for specific groups of employees in health outside the public sector pay system, which the unions also strongly opposed.
Notably, the package also includes the extension of the power to issue fines for violations of protective measures from the Health Inspectorate to the police as well as to municipal wardens.
The proposal was met with nods from employers, with the Chamber of Small Business (OZS) pointing out that the government had heeded its warnings and incorporated most of its proposals in the package.
The OZS stressed that support for the self-employed had also come upon its initiative. It would however like to see the government go even further and also secure allowances for self-employed workers who remain without income because their children are quarantined.
The head of ZSSS trade union confederation Lidija Jerkič on the other pointed out for the STA that the unions had not received a final version of the proposal.
The fact that the package was not finalised yet even though it was reportedly adopted by the government was also highlighted by Matej T. Vatovec, an MP for the opposition Left.
He stressed it remains to be agreed with social partners, while he took issue with what he said was obviously an effort to continue with the privatisation of healthcare and interfere in the public sector salary system.
STA, 23 September 2020 - Slovenia logged 136 new coronavirus cases for Tuesday, the second highest daily tally since the start of the pandemic, as another Covid-19 patient died, fresh government data show.
The latest cases come from 2,616 tests and bring the overall case count to just shy of 4,700, at 4,694, with the number of active cases at 1,383, according to the tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org.
On the upside, Covid-19 hospitalisations fell to 65 after ten patients were discharged home yesterday. Ten patients still require intensive care.
The latest infections include ten health staff, five care home staff and four care home residents.
The bulk of the newly infected (86) are aged between 25 and 54 (30 are 25-34-year-olds, 29 are 45-54-year-olds and 27 aged 35-44 years), and another 22 are aged up to 64.
Five were children up to the age of 14 and 11 are up to 24 year old. Twelve of the infected are 65 and older.
Most of the infections were again recorded the country's largest cities, Ljubljana and Maribor, which now have 304 and 211 active infections, respectively. But infections are scattered country-wide.
The northern region of Koroška saw as many as 18 new cases on Tuesday and now has 57 active infections. The situation was discussed at a session of the regional council today.
Doctor Zdenka Koželj Rekanović told the meeting that sources of infection were almost impossible to establish as many people did not know or would not tell where they had caught the virus.
"The situation is getting out of control epidemiologically, the exponential growth over the past 24 hours showing there are many asymptomatic cases," said Davorin Benko, a doctor heading a team tasked with managing the coronavirus spread in public social and health care institutions in the region.
He warned that some people are wilfully hiding their symptoms.
One of the hotspots in the region is a centre for persons with mental disabilities in Črna na Koroškem, where local media report 14 residents and staff are infected with further test results pending.
Slovenia has so far recorded 143 fatalities related to Covid-19.
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STA, 23 September 2020 - Social media in Slovenia have exploded with posts about a minor who has allegedly been mistreated by the police in Vransko. She was removed from the bus for refusing to wear a protective mask. The General Police Administration explained that the police officers had to use force due to the passenger's rude behaviour.
The young passenger boarded the bus in Ljubljana on Tuesday, but did not heed the bus driver's warning that she should put on a face mask. The minor then allegedly behaved rudely towards the driver and the other passengers during the ride. The driver therefore informed his boss, who called the police.
The minor first found herself in the police procedure because she refused to wear a protective mask on the bus. The police officers asked her to show her identification, but she did not want to cooperate.
They informed her that they would escort her to the police station, by force if need be, to complete the identification procedure. They ordered the girl to leave the bus, which she refused to do. The officers then used force, took her off the bus and handcuffed her despite her resistance.
The passenger's mother arrived at the scene shortly after and helped the police confirm her identity. The police officers then quickly completed the procedure, the General Police Administration explained.
The minor, who will actually turn 18 tomorrow, admitted that she never wears a protective mask. She also posted a short clip of the event on her Facebook profile and commented that she will not wear a mask anywhere, and that she is a student who has been "fighting for the right to breathe freely from the very beginning".
"Decrees, rules and recommendations are not the LAW! They have no right to punish or fine you," she added.
The circumstances of the police officers' behaviour during the procedure have not yet been fully verified, but this will be done by the commission of the General Police Administration in accordance with the law on police tasks and powers, the police explained.
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STA, 22 September 2020 - A total of 2,335 tests for the novel coronavirus were performed in Slovenia on Monday, resulting in 88 new cases, show the latest data from the government. The number of hospitalised patients was up by one to 71, while the number of those requiring intensive care stayed at 13. A dozen people needed ventilators.
Eight Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospital yesterday. There were no deaths, with the death toll remaining at 142.
Slovenia had 1,325 active cases yesterday, according to the national tracker site Covid-19.sledilnik.
New infections were recorded in 39 municipalities. In Ljubljana, 24 more people tested positive, bringing the number of active cases in the capital to almost 300.
Six new cases were detected in Maribor and four each in Celje and Domžale. Only 15 out of the 212 Slovenian municipalities remain coronavirus-free.
On Monday, infections were confirmed with two care home residents and four members of medical staff.
According to government Covid-19 spokesperson Jelko Kacin, the Danica Vogrinec care home in Maribor now has four new infections, bringing the total number to 59. 40 residents and 19 members of staff are infected.
Meanwhile, two new infections were also confirmed at a care home in Rogaška Slatina with a resident and an employee. A total of 25 infections have been recorded there so far, 19 among residents and six among staff.
A new hotspot seems to be the CUDV centre for persons with disabilities in Črna na Koroškem, where three employees tested positive, and another 18 members of the staff and 17 residents were placed in quarantine.
The centre works with some 300 persons with disabilities, 215 of whom live at the centre. The unit where the infections were detected has 150 beds, regional branch of Večer reports.
Bojana Beović, the government's chief Covid-19 adviser, said today that the figures of newly infected people did not mean much if their symptoms were mild. "What undoubtedly shows that the disease is a great burden in Slovenia, and that it is increasing, is the rise in the number of patients who need hospital treatment and intensive care," she said.
Projections show that 250 to 270 people perhaps even 300 will be hospitalised in mid-October, which is cause for concern, because the health system cannot afford another standstill, she said, noting that all efforts would be investment in keeping the healthcare system running.
Currently, Covid-19 patients are being treated at the UKC Ljubljana and Maribor hospitals, the Golnik clinic and the Celje hospital. But since the number of patients is growing, the Nova Gorica, Novo Mesto and Murska Sobota hospitals have also been activated.
The Novo Mesto and Murska Sobota hospitals can accept up to 20 patients each, while 15 beds are expected to be ready for Covid-19 patients in Nova Gorica by the end of the week, according to the hospital's deputy head, Ernest Gortan. The hospital also has five ventilators suitable for Covid-19 patients.
In the 18,339 tests conducted in Slovenia between 14 and 20 September, 721 infections were confirmed; 320 in men and 401 in women, Kacin said today. A total of 49 infections were discovered at care homes, 32 among residents. 74 members of the medical and support staff also tested positive.
Epidemiologists issued 2,526 quarantine orders, and 210 people actually got Covid-19.
The region with the most infections is central Slovenia with 249 cases, followed by Podravje and Savinjska regions with 126 and 114 cases, respectively.
In 454 cases the infection came from a local source, while in 244 cases the source could not be determined.
A total of 16 infections were imported, and another seven cases were related to them. Four people were infected in Austria, three in Germany, two each in Croatia and Italy, and one each in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Czechia, Montenegro and Estonia.
A total of 4,558 cases have been confirmed so far in Slovenia in 203,647 tests.
Poll shows people not very concerned about coronavirus
STA, 21 September 2020 - Although the epidemiological curve in Slovenia has been rising recently, people are not very concerned, the latest Vox Populi poll suggests. The share of respondents who are not concerned by the new coronavirus spreading rose from 13.3% in March to 27.2% in September.
The share of those who are fairly concerned decreased to almost 30% compared to March, when the share was 38%, and the share of those who are quite concerned dropped from 31.2% to 22.1%.
The share of those who are very concerned rose slightly, from 17.5% to 20%, but that did not change the overall situation.
An analysis of responses has shown that women are more concerned by the situation and that the anxiety increases with age.
People also no longer seem to find government-imposed restrictive measures justified. If as many as 70% of respondents assessed government measures as appropriate in March, and a record 75% in April, this percentage dropped to under 45% in September.
The share of people finding anti-corona measures exaggerated has been rising all along. If only 6.5% thought so in March, their share rose to 21.6% in April and climbed to 26.6% in September.
An interesting twist happened with those who deem government measures inadequate. While in March just over 16% thought the authorities should do more to fight the virus, in April and May virtually nobody thought so, but this month 21.2% of the respondents said more measures would be required.
Vox Populi is a survey conducted by Ninamedia for the newspaper Večer and Dnevnik. It was carried out among 700 people between 15 and 17 September.
STA, 21 September 2020 - PM Janez Janša said the government will discuss the fifth omnibus bill bringing anti-coronavirus measures this week and the bill will also bring funds to cut waiting time in healthcare. The bill will moreover feature measures designed to prevent the spring scenario, when practically all non-urgent medical services were suspended.
This is what Janša said in parliament on Monday as he answered a question posed by Anderj Rajh from the opposition Alenka Bratušek Party (SAB), who urged better access to healthcare also at a time of rising Covid-19 cases.
Janša admitted that the epidemic, even if it lasted in Slovenia a relatively short period of time, caused some problems in access to healthcare.
He fears this could happen again if people fail to respect the measures designed to stop the spread of coronavirus.
However, Janša announced the government would do all in its power for the spring situation not to repeat.
"We are in a serious situation when a debate on this is welcome," he told the National Assembly as it opened the September regular plenary.
He rejected the notion that the government had failed to act, having earmarked more than EUR 210 million for healthcare.
While there will be enough funds for the healthcare system, the problem is also organisation and capacities, he said, adding both issues were being addressed.
Rajh believes that a patient needs to get access to a medical treatment when they need it.
He proposed that parliament discuss Janša's reply to his question as part of a broader debate in parliament, and the MPs will vote on his proposal on Thursday.
A similar question came from Lidija Divjak Mirnik from the opposition Marjan Šarec List (LMŠ), who also said public healthcare rather than private should be strengthened.
But Janša said the word "public healthcare" had been abused for years. "The more we talk about supporting public healthcare, the more [doctors and nurses] run away."
He announced the government would also address this issue, but said there was a shortage of staff. He noted the EU being a common area, meaning one can seek employment around the bloc where one is better paid.
Janša also announced talks to exclude the services part of the public sector from the uniform public pay system would start soon to set up a new system.
"If this problem is not solved, waiting time in Slovenian healthcare will further deteriorate, regardless of how much funds it gets," he said.
There have been demands to exclude various professions from the public sector pay system, with doctors pushing for higher pay for years.
However, responding to the STA's query, the Ministry of Public Administration said it had nothing to add to Janša's statement.
Health Minister Tomaž Gantar meanwhile told the STA that excluding at least healthcare from the public sector pay system was feasible.
His ministry and the FIDES trade union of doctors are to set up a task force that would try to come up with different remuneration criteria, he explained.
Gantar believes that a more motivating pay system is needed, which is what the task force will try to come up with.
However, this does not mean doctors will get higher pay immediately, he said, indicating they were willing to wait with their demands for some time.
"But we absolutely don't want to postpone these problems to some undefined future," the minister added.
STA, 18 September 2020 - Kino Šiška, one of the main music venues in Ljubljana, will fuse online and on-site concerts in the new season due to precautionary measures such as visitor caps. The centre has entered into a partnership with the online platform DICE to deliver livestreams of performances, mostly by Slovenian musicians.
The move comes come in the wake of strict anti-corona restrictions: due to physical distancing rules the number of visitors has been capped at 150 persons in the Kino Šiška main hall, which usually fits 1,000 visitors.
The centre has some experience with interactive livestreamed projects and has been spurred on to provide a new concert platform by the results of a poll exploring alternative ways of holding cultural events.
As of 1 October, concerts at the Katedrala Hall will be given for up to 150 persons, whereas livestreams will come with no restrictions. They will not be free of charge, though, since artists should be paid fair and square for online concerts too, especially in the current circumstances, Kino Šiška said.
Cooperation with DICE, a provider of online concerts by musicians such as Nick Cave, Laura Marling in Björk, will give the project an international dimension and help promote Slovenian performers, who will take centre stage.
On 1 October, zalagasper will lift the curtain on the new season. The duo represented Slovenia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 and has been topping the INES chart of up-and-coming musicians in the EU for the second month in a row.
See what’s on at Kino Siška, with the page for the hybrid/hibrid events here
