Number of new coronavirus cases remained high on Wednesday

Ljubljana – The number of new coronavirus infections again exceeded one thousand on Wednesday, standing at 1,164, which is a slight drop from the day before. Hospitalisations also exceeded the 500 milestone by one patient today, while 106 needed intensive care, seven more than the day before. Four patients died.

A total of 6,432 PCR tests were conducted on Wednesday, of which 18.1% came back positive. Another 27,645 rapid antigen tests were also performed.

The rolling seven-day average of new daily cases rose from 855 to 882, the government announced on Twitter.

Most regions thus remain in the orange tier, while the Koroška, Goriška and Obalno-Kraška regions were downgraded to red at yesterday’s government session. The only region that still meets the criteria for the yellow tier is Posavska, Bratuša said.

Still, SE Slovenia and Primorsko-Notranjska remain in the tier yellow for now as well.

According to Maja Bratuša, the government Covid-19 spokesperson, the 14-day incidence per 100,000 people continues to rise at the national level, currently standing at 544.8. The 7-day incidence is rising as well, reaching 293.8.

On Wednesday, 60 people were admitted to hospital, while 55 were discharged.

Bratuša said the government would discuss proposals by the Covid-19 advisory group at the Health Ministry on Sunday and propose to President Borut Pahor to call a meeting of the heads of parliamentary parties and deputy groups before that.

The Institute for Microbiology and Immunology of the Ljubljana Medical Faculty last week discovered the British strain of the new coronavirus in 24% of the 570 positive samples taken in the second week of March.

Four samples tested positive for the South African variant to bring the total number of cases confirmed so far to 23. 21 persons infected with this strain have not been abroad, while two persons came from Tanzania, including one from Zanzibar.

The so-called Nigerian version has so far been confirmed in 22 samples from central Slovenia, SE Slovenia and the Savinjska region.

The version that is most widespread in the French overseas region of Mayotte has so far been confirmed in 23 samples from central Slovenia and SE Slovenia.

The institute analysed 29% of the positive samples taken between 8 and 14 March with 60% of them coming from central Slovenia, 17% from the Goriška region, 5% from SE Slovenia and Zasavje, 2% each from the Obalno-Kraška region, Gorenjska, Posavska and Primorsko-Notranjska regions and 1% each from the Podravska, Pomorska and Savinjska regions.

Six samples were from persons who live abroad.

So far, Slovenia has recorded 209,753 coronavirus cases, 98,647 among men and 111,088 among women, fresh data by the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) show.

It is estimated that around 11,496 cases are still active.

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