Ljubljana - Slovenia confirmed 1,208 new cases of coronavirus for Tuesday, a slight drop on the week before and the continuation of a slowly declining trend. The test positivity rate was under 20%, show the latest data by the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ). The number of patients in hospitals dropped slightly, but eight more patients died.

The number of Covid-19 patients in hospitals dropped by 26 to 400, of whom 114 need intensive care, one patient more than the day before, the government said.

The youngest patient in hospital is 26 years old, and the youngest in intensive care is 34.

The 14-day incidence per 100,000 population remained flat at 566 and the seven-day average of new cases declined by 18 to 844.

The NIJZ estimates there are now just under 12,000 active cases in the country.

The Jožef Stefan Institute says in today's assessment of progression of the Covid-19 epidemic in Slovenia that it was "slowly declining".

However, it warned that since the season of respiratory conditions was only just beginning and the number of vaccinated had been rising slowly, the curve could turn upwards again.

An estimate of the reproduction number is currently at approximately 0.97. Under the criteria of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Slovenia is currently coloured dark red.