Coronavirus: Slovenia reports 1,233 new cases, 5 deaths

The 11-day lockdown, which ended on Sunday, was effective, reducing the reproduction number of Covid-19 from 1.2 to 1.0, Leon Cizelj of the Jozef Stefan Research Institute told a news conference in Ljubljana.

If the positive trend continues, the epidemic could be contained by the summer, he added.

According to government data, 622 infected people are currently in hospital care, including 154 in intensive care units. The incidence rate of confirmed cases per 100,000 people has been reduced by 15 percent over the last two weeks.

A total of 195,000 people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 to date, or 16 percent of the population, and 6 percent have received both doses. The immunization process is expected to pick up this month and at least 50 percent of all Slovenians aged between 65-69 are expected to be inoculated by May.

Epidemiologist Marta Grgic said that the shipment of the Johnson&Johnson vaccine that had arrived recently was currently "quarantined", pending an opinion of the European Medicines Agency.