At Friday’s press conference, Minister of Health Janez Poklukar said that Slovenia has confirmed the first case of the South African coronavirus variant, detected in the Maribor area in a person who has returned from Africa. The Epidemiological Service traced all high-risk contacts and sent them into quarantine.
The Minister also said that, as a precaution, 30 instead of 10 percent of all tests performed in the Maribor region will be subject to sequencing.
He emphasised that today’s case shows the epidemic is not over yet, calling for a consistent observance of all protective measures, such as mask wearing, hand and cough hygiene, airing out rooms and self-isolation in the event of Covid-19 symptoms. He advised against all unnecessary travel abroad, as certain other countries have higher shares of coronavirus variants that are not present in Slovenia.
As regards potential new measures for entering Slovenia from third countries given the discovery of the new variant, the Minister announced that the matter will be considered by the advisory group.
