Slovenia on Monday reported a 41.5% jump in the weekly number of coronavirus cases, with 290 new infections confirmed in the last 24 hours.

According to epidemiologists from the Jozef Stefan Institute, Slovenia is moving from the present “orange” phase towards the “red” phase of the COVID-19 epidemic and could reach it within the next week. This means that the daily number of infections might increase from the present 825 to over 1,000.

The government’s COVID-19 advisory group is meeting in the afternoon to discuss the present situation and propose new measures, including a possible epidemiological framework for the forthcoming Easter holidays. Local media said on Monday that the possible lifting of the overnight curfew was now out of the question.

The 14-day incidence rate has increased to 504 per 100,000 people and the 7-day incidence rate to 273 as the pressure on hospitals is growing. Eighty-five people infected with COVID-19 were hospitalised over the weekend and 37 were discharged. Currently, 494 people are receiving hospital treatment, including 94 placed on ventilators.

In the last 24 hours, another four COVID-19 patients have died, bringing the death toll to 3,974. A total of 186,170 people have been vaccinated against COVID-19 to date, of whom 104,042 have received two doses of the vaccine.

The director of the Public Health Institute, Milan Krak, said that the latest spike in cases was driven by the rapid spread of new variants of the virus, notably the British variant.