Ljubljana - As the epidemiological situation in Slovenia is deteriorating, regular coronavirus testing is being introduced in all hospitals and social care institutions on Monday while employees in all sectors who are not vaccinated or reconvalescent will need to be tested more frequently.

Under the changes to the recovered-vaccinated-tested (PCT) rule, employees will now need to be tested every 48 hours.

Primary and secondary school students and university students will be tested twice a week, on Mondays and Wednesdays. Self-testing remains optional, but it is now recommended for all school children, from first year of primary school.

Under the new rules, students will be able to pick up more tests for free at pharmacies.

Protective masks are obligatory for all in healthcare, education and social care and in all services where people are in contact with others.

The changes were announced last week by Health Minister Janez Poklukar, who noted that the PCT rule was obviously not being implemented the way it was planned.

He said that checking the PCT rule was not consistent, while there is also increasingly many forged Covid passes. "We are also not being consistent when it comes to wearing masks, while we have forgotten about bubbles long ago," he said.