As Health Minister Janez Poklukar announced in a press conference on Saturday night, public gatherings and private parties such as weddings will be banned. There is a contact restriction, only close family members are allowed to meet. Night clubs have to close, the restaurants are only allowed to keep open from 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. A strict 3G rule in the workplace has been in place in Slovenia since mid-September. The center-right government has to contend with great vaccination skepticism and a growing protest movement by anti-vaccination campaigners who want to stir up the political landscape in Slovenia in the parliamentary elections next year.
“Measures socially acceptable”
Poklukar called the new measures “socially acceptable” and expects them to have a “swift effect” to ease pressure on health care systems. Because of the rising corona numbers, the Slovenian health system is already on the brink of collapse, and according to media reports, talks are already underway about the transfer of intensive care patients to neighboring countries such as Austria.
The package of measures also provides that cloth masks will no longer be considered adequate mouth and nose protection. Home office is introduced in public administration. In future, students will have to test themselves at school three times a week. Up to now, rapid antigen tests have been carried out at home twice a week on a voluntary basis. This regulation does not come into force until November 15th. The age limit at which one must meet the applicable 3G rule will be reduced from 15 to twelve years.
53 percent of Slovenes fully vaccinated
The number of infections is also increasing rapidly in Slovenia. According to official data from Friday, a total of 3,771 new infections reported in the past 24 hours. The 14-day incidence rose to 1,603 per 100,000 population. On Wednesday, 4,511 confirmed cases were recorded, the highest number of new infections since the outbreak of the corona pandemic. In the neighboring country, around 53 percent of the approximately 2.1 million inhabitants are fully vaccinated.
In the run-up to the government meeting, there was speculation that a new lockdown could occur in view of the poor epidemiological situation. According to reports, the health minister and ex-hospital manager Poklukar, who warned of a “Bergamo scenario” over a week ago, is said to have campaigned for this.
Alarm in the hospitals
The alarm is now also raised by the hospitals, who have already reached the upper limits with their capacities and who expect the situation to worsen in the next few weeks. In order to create additional beds for Covid patients, the treatments for the remaining patients are already being scaled back. On Friday, 761 Covid patients were treated in Slovenian hospitals, 177 of them in intensive care units. For comparison: Streich, with its more than four times larger population, currently has 362 Covid intensive care patients and 1,475 patients in normal wards.
On Friday, the Slovenian Constitutional Court declared further measures from the previous lockdowns to be unconstitutional. After ordinances restricting freedom of movement and assembly were repealed in the spring, this now also happened with the rules that closed trade, catering and services due to an unconstitutional legal basis. The government has to improve parts of the Infection Protection Act because it leaves too much leeway in the measures. The previous attempt to change the law accordingly failed in the summer due to the veto of the second chamber of parliament. Until the law is amended, the controversial provisions will remain in force.
Source From: Nachrichten
