Despite a record spike in new cases of the coronavirus in one day, Slovenia's government is not currently planning to introduce new restrictions, the government's spokesman for Covid-19 Jelko Kacin said on Friday.

“If we were to introduce new measures, we would have to proclaim the epidemic again, which not one country in Europe has done as yet,” Kacin told a press conference, adding that the results of the fight against the coronavirus in Slovenia were better than in neighbouring countries and some large European countries, and currently there were 34 people infected per 100,000 over the past 14 days.

He added that the number of new cases in the past few days has not only increased in Slovenia but throughout Europe and the world.

“We are carefully monitoring events in the neighbourhood and Europe, which are not rosy,” he said, noting that the government is not planning on introducing new restrictive measures, particularly a lockdown or limiting movement within municipalities as was the case in the spring. The government calls on everyone to adhere to epidemiological measures: to keep their distance, wear masks in closed premises and to use the app revealing risky contacts and to avoid crowds, said Kacin.

However, if the situation were to “drastically” change in the neighbourhood and if neighbouring countries were to proclaim an epidemic, then Slovenia would have to introduce new, additional measures, added Kacin.

In the past 24 hours a record number of 108 new cases of the coronavirus were registered in one day in Slovenia and 2,758 people were tested. There are currently 27 patients being treated in hospital for Covid-19 and 5 are in intensive care and 135 people have died since the outbreak of the epidemic.

The majority of cases are a result of local transmission and clusters have emerged in the education system, in the workplace and in the health system.