Eight new coronavirus cases recorded, death toll up by one to 82

The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 was 80, three more than on Friday. Twenty-three patients were in intensive care, unchanged from Friday, and two were discharged from hospital.

The majority of Covid-19 patients are currently treated at the two largest hospitals in the country, UKC Ljubljana (32) and UKC Maribor (29).

Until last midnight, as many as 48,973 test were carried out, of which 1,396 were positive. The days with the largest number of deaths were 4 and 6 April, when six persons died a day.

Saturday's number of new Covid-19 cases is roughly the same as Thursday's, when seven new infections were recorded, whereas the Friday figure more than doubled to 15 from a day earlier.

Commenting on the sharp daily rise, Milan Krek, who is to take over at the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) if green-lighted by the government, attributed it to people not sticking to social distancing rules during the Easter holiday.

"If people don't respect the restrictions, this will again reflect in the number of new infections in two weeks," he told the STA last evening after the NIJZ council appointed him the new director.

"I'm most worried about Labour Day bonfires. A single Labour Day party can lead to a catastrophe. It's enough for one infected person to be there to have 50 new cases a day in two weeks' time."

Krek therefore insists that the restrictions, including limits to travelling outside one's municipality of residence, must not be lifted yet.

Easing the restrictions gradually is key for the experts to be able to assess its impact on the health situation in the country. "The impact of easing one restriction must not exceed the capacities of the healthcare system," he warned.