Four die as number of Covid-19 persons rises by 46 to 802
Ljubljana, 31 March - Slovenia's Covid-19 death toll has risen to 15 as four people died on Monday and Tuesday, the latest government figures released on Tuesday show. The number of new coronavirus cases increased by 46 to 802 after 1,125 persons were tested on Monday.
Šempeter pri Gorici
Slovenia's coronavirus-related death toll rises to 15 today.
Photo: Rosana Rijavec/STA
File photo
At least one of the four persons died at the University Clinic of Respiratory and Allergic Diseases at Golnik, according to coronavirus crisis spokesperson Jelko Kacin.
As many as 119 Covid-19 patients were in hospital, of whom 28 were in intensive care, on Monday, when six patients were released from hospital.
The number of persons who have been so far been tested for the virus in Slovenia has risen to 22,474.
Nursing homes continue to be hot spots as contagion spreads there at a fast pace, and persons accommodated there are the most vulnerable to coronavirus and the death rate the highest among them.
Addressing the press on the issue today, director of the Golnik clinic for pulmonary diseases Aleš Rozman said that nursing homes were a "battlefield" on which the future spreading of the epidemic would depend.
"We are afraid of small epidemics in nursing homes - there are around 115 of them in Slovenia - completely filling up our healthcare system and us facing unnecessary casualties," he added.
Task forces have thus been established, comprising experts from hospitals and primary care, with the priority task of preventing the spreading of the virus in nursing homes with confirmed Covid-19 cases.
They will also examine the transfer routes and try to prevent infections in nursing homes where there are no confirmed cases yet, Rozman added.
One of these hot spots is the nursing home in Ljutomer (NE), where the number of confirmed cases increased in one day by ten to 16 on Tuesday. Two of the infected persons are employees of the nursing home.