Slovenia will undertake mass Covid-19 vaccination this month as part of which it could vaccinate 500,000-600,000 people, but given the vaccine shortage, a realistic number is around 240,000, it was said in Ljubljana on Wednesday.

The government’s vaccination coordinator, Jelko Kacin, said Slovenia expected 24,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Thursday, adding that it had reserved another 15,000 and was expecting 40,000 early next week.

He said that after the second shot, the AstraZeneca vaccine protected from illness for nine months.

This month Slovenia expects 100,000 doses of AstraZeneca, 30,000 of Moderna and a little under 100,000 of Pfizer-BioNtech, Kacin added.

In the past 24 hours, 1,209 new coronavirus cases have been registered, 117 more than a week ago, the government said, adding that 516 COVID-19 patients were currently hospitalized, including 82 in intensive care.

Currently, there are 10,750 active cases. The death toll has reached 3,874, with 11 Covid-19 deaths confirmed in the past 24 hours.

According to the Health Ministry, more than 125,000 people have been vaccinated.