In the past 24 hours, 95 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Slovenia, with 10.3% of the 920 tests coming back positive, and the health authorities are unhappy with the vaccination rate and people's behaviour ahead of the expected autumn wave of the epidemic, it was said on Sunday.

“The situation is very serious. The trend of the spread of the infection is exponential and more and more people require hospitalisation. All signs that we are entering a new epidemic wave very rapidly,” the head of the National Public Health Institute, Milan Krek, told Siol.net.

He said the situation was worse than at this time last year and that it was unacceptable that 300,000 people over 50 had not been vaccinated when 700,000 doses were still available.

Krek said the government and epidemiologists wanted to avoid an autumn lockdown but that it would be inevitable unless more people were vaccinated and everyone complied with the restrictions.

There have been no COVID deaths in the past 24 hours, the government said. Forty-three patients are hospitalised, including nine in intensive care.

The 14-day incidence is 99 per 100,000 population and the death toll stands at 4,433.

Slovenia has vaccinated 40.4% of the population.