Slovenia has registered 7,420 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours, the record daily number of new infections since the start of the epidemic, the country's health authorities said on Wednesday.

Out of 14,814 PCR tests done in the last 24 hours, 7,420 came back positive, which is a test positivity rate of 50.1 per cent, the National Institute of Public Health said.

The number of active cases rose to 45,473, the 14-day incidence rate increased to 2,156 per 100,000 people and the seven-day average of new infections went up by 123 per cent to 4,412, according to the Health Ministry.

The epidemiological situation in the country is deteriorating due to the fast-spreading Omicron variant of the virus, which has become dominant. Scientists making projections for the government expect the present fifth wave of the epidemic to peak at the end of this month or in the first half of the next.