By UKOM
The press conference on the current issues regarding the COVID-19 disease was attended by the state secretary Jelko Kacin, the national coordinator for the logistics part of the mass vaccination against COVID-19.
ased on the current data, a total of 4,750 PCR tests and 24,855 rapid tests were carried out yesterday. 929 cases were confirmed with PCR, which is 19.6 per cent. The two-week incidence per 100,000 people equals 452.
The situation in hospitals remains similar to the previous days, but the number of COVID-19 patients requiring hospital treatment has dropped somewhat. There are a total of 560 patients currently being treated in hospitals, which is 24 less than yesterday. 141 beds are occupied in intensive care units, which is two less than yesterday.
A total of 45 persons were admitted to hospitals yesterday and 63 patients were released. 6 persons due to COVID-19.
The 7-day average of infections remains above the criteria defined for the transition to the yellow phase and is significantly higher than in the last three days, equalling 750 based on the data published today. The threshold for transitioning to the yellow phase is set to 600. Even the second criterion for lifting measures, which is the bed occupancy, has not been reached yet because the threshold is set at 500 occupied beds, whereas 560 COVID-19 patients are currently being treated in hospitals.
The state secretary Jelko Kacin said that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a global health and social crisis, which is why the containment of the COVID-19 virus and its mutation is the number one priority in Slovenia as well. He called on all inhabitants to get vaccinated since this is the most important and effective step for every one of us to our joint path to a larger normality.
He said that Slovenia is receiving more and more vaccine doses as agreed, and the people responsible are striving to obtain additional quantities. “With a faster vaccination rate, we wish to ensure bearable conditions in our hospitals or in their COVID departments and create a safer and better summer”, said Kacin.
He said that the most stable supply of vaccines comes from the manufacturer Pfizer-BioNtech. In the course of this month, more than 50,000 doses of this vaccine will arrive to the country every week, and twice as many at the end of the month. The increased tempo of supplies will continue with more than 100,000 doses every week in June. The European Commission and Pfizer-BioNtech have agreed on a preliminary lifting and supply of a large part of the contractual quantities that were planned to arrive in the last quarter. These are two agreements, the first one for 10 million doses and the second one for 50 million doses, a total of 60 million doses more in this quarter. Slovenia will receive 0.47% of the total quantity of doses based on our population size. This means more than 330,000 doses in May. More than a half will be used for first time doses, while the remainder will be used to administer the second dose to the population.
This is how we are substituting the significant loss of the vaccine supplies of the manufacturer AstraZeneca who has failed to meet their contractual obligations. Regardless of all the complications, the experience of those vaccinated with this vaccine are positive. The AstraZeneca vaccine also has the longest protection among all of the vaccines because the second dose is required after twelve weeks, therefore providing protection for 9 months.
Kacin also said that Slovenia does not have confirmed AstraZeneca vaccines for more than two weeks in advance and that these vaccines will not arrive this week, which is why the available quantities need to be used efficiently in order to ensure a sufficient quantity of the AstraZeneca vaccines for the second dose should there be longer delays in the supply.
Supplies were also significantly increased and stabilised by the manufacturer Moderna, which has started supplying its vaccines in the same weekly quantities for the first time, which is why the vaccination strategy can be planned easier and vaccines can be distributed easier to the vaccination centres.
Slovenia also counts on the supply of the new Janssen vaccine from the manufacturer Johnson&Johnson, where only one dose is enough and where people have reported positive experiences after the first doses. The quantities of vaccines and the frequency of deliveries are increasing and are arriving to Slovenia every week.
In the end, the general secretary Kacin summarised that Slovenia has at least 450,000 guaranteed doses of four types of vaccines for the month of May. He noted the importance of solidarity and the common European approach that guarantees vaccines for the same price and deliveries based on the population size even to the smallest member states in the European Union, due to which we are less dependent on others.
Source: gov.si