Slovenia has banned mass outdoor New Year's celebrations, but has allowed restaurants and bars to stay open until early morning hours, with guests having to show a Covid pass and a negative test.

The Slovenian government has adopted an epidemiological framework for the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, which is much milder than last year.

Unlike last year, this year churches will be allowed to hold midnight masses, and only people who have been vaccinated against Covid-19, who have recovered from it or who have been tested will be allowed to attend.

On 24 and 25 December and 31 December and 1 January, people from not more than three households will be allowed to get together, provided that persons aged above six have been tested beforehand, the government said.

The validity of a rapid antigen test has been shortened to 24 hours and that of a PCR test to 48 hours.

In the last 24 hours, Slovenia has registered 1,203 new coronavirus cases and two deaths.

“The situation has improved and the number of hospitalizations is decreasing, but everything depends on the spread of the Omicron variant of the virus because it is believed to be more present than previous analyses have shown,” the director of the Clinic for Infectious Diseases, Tatjana Lejko Zupanc, told a brief press conference in Ljubljana on Friday.