In the last 24 hours, 1,797 new coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Slovenia after 6,710 tests were done, government spokesman Jelko Kacin said on Saturday.

This is one fewer case than on Friday, and the share of positive tests has also dropped and now stands at 26.78%, but epidemiologists warn that this does not mean the epidemic is waning and that recent trends have changed because a changed protocol of testing target groups has been in force since Wednesday.

Under the new protocol, primary healthcare physicians are no longer referring for testing those people who exhibit mild symptoms of the disease but only those who have more serious symptoms as well as healthcare workers and people who work in retirement homes.

Mario Fafangel, a specialist in infectious diseases at the Slovenian Public Health Institute, said that one could not speak of a drop in the number of new infections and that more important were figures on the number of hospitalised patients, which continue growing.

The head of the government’s COVID-19 response team, Bojana Beovic, has said that some figures offer hope that the stringent measures that have been introduced are yielding results, but that one should be wary as this could be “statistical oscillations” and that the restrictions have to stay in force and should be complied with by everyone.

She noted that the latest restrictions could remain in force for a month.