The fourth wave of the COVID-19 epidemic is continuing to wane in Slovenia and in the past 24 hours 2,482 new cases were identified, which is almost one thousand less than a week ago.

With 6,287 tests taken, 2,482 new cases were identified, which is a positivity rate of 39.5% whereas seven days ago there were 3,397 new cases, a rate of 46.2%.

The daily average of infections for the past seven days is down to 2,199 while the 14-day incidence per 100,000 population is 1,761, according to official data.

“The epidemic in Slovenia is continuing to calm, as evidenced by the daily confirmed cases this and last week,” said Matjaz Leskovar of the Jozef Stefan research institute.

The number of hospitalised patients has decreased mildly and there are currently 1,128 hospitalised COVID patients, 277 of whom are in ICU. In the past 24 hours another 16 people have died as a consequence of the infection, the health ministry confirmed on Tuesday.

Considering that the situation appears to be stabilising, experts do not plan to recommend any further restrictions. They do however warn of the danger of the Omicron variant, which has not been identified in Slovenia yet, although cases have appeared in neighbouring Italy and Austria.