Ljubljana, October 19th – at Sunday’s session in Slovenia, the government declared a 30-day covid-19 epidemic for today. According to government spokesman Jelko Kacin, the announcement for now only means that the state plan for Civil Protection is activated, while the same measures remain in force. The Primorsko-Notranjska, Goriška, and Obalno-Kraška regions remain on the orange list.
According to Kacin, declaring an epidemic only means that the state plan will be activated, for example in the field of Civil Protection. While, everything else, such as schools, transitions between regions, and the like, remains the same for now. By declaring the epidemic, they also gained a legal basis so that they could prepare certain measures.
Prime Minister Janez Janša also tweeted at night that all other measures, except for the activation of the Civil Protection, must be taken individually, “which will happen in proportion to the needs from today onwards”. In Kacin’s words, the adoption of a new measure is expected today, and could take effect on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The Primorsko-Notranjska, Goriška, and Obalno-Kraška statistical regions also remain on the orange list, despite the declaration of an epidemic. “Who is on the red list will find out when the National Institute of Public Health announces the incidence of infections,” said Kacin. He added that the National Institute did not do so on Sunday and will not do so today. As the government wrote in a press release on Sunday, declaring an epidemic across the country was required due to an epidemiological situation related to the spread of coronavirus infection, as well as witnessing a rapid and exponential spread among populations well above normal morbidity. On Sunday, Slovenia met almost all the criteria set for declaring an epidemic.
