A month after the first confirmed case of coronavirus infection and 21 days after the first death, Slovenia is believed to be halfway through the COVID-19 epidemic, and the cost of aid to the national economy has already reached €3 billion.

According to data published in Ljubljana on Saturday, 25,921 people have been tested for coronavirus since 27 January, with 934 testing positive, and 22 people have died to date.

The first case was registered on 4 March in a 60-year-old man from Ljubljana who had visited Morocco with a group of compatriots as part of an arrangement by a travel agency. He returned by air to Venice and from there by road to Slovenia.

The first coronavirus-related death was recorded on 14 March. It was an elderly man who had several other conditions. He was a resident of a nursing home in Metlika, a town close to the border with Croatia.

Metlika became a hotspot of the disease after a doctor, who had returned from a skiing trip to Italy, passed it on to several of his patients and co-workers and to residents of the local nursing home.

A total of 109 infected persons are currently being treated In four hospitals, and 31 of them are in intensive care. Between five and ten people are discharged per day after recovering, but the case growth rate varies from day to day. It has stabilised in recent days, so the government believes that the epidemic might reach its peak and begin its downward trend in a few weeks.

This week the Slovenian parliament adopted a €3 billion “first aid” package for households and businesses, which should suffice until 30 May. New bills have been announced to ensure liquidity and restart the economy after the epidemic ends. Many economists believe that this might not be enough if the crisis continued into the autumn.

The Slovenian Chamber of Commerce estimates that the country’s GDP might fall by between 6% and 16% this year, worse than during the global financial crisis of 2008 when it shrank by 8%.

Prime Minister Janez Jansa is one of nine EU leaders who have called for so-called “corona bonds” to be issued to help countries worst hit by the pandemic. The proposal has been rejected by influential countries such as Germany and the Netherlands.