Ljubljana - The daily number of new coronavirus cases recorded on Tuesday was the highest since the start of the epidemic, as 3,456 of 7,722 PCR tests came back positive or almost 45%. Eighteen more deaths were reported, according to the government, which is the highest number since February.

Hospitalisations rose by 36 to 670, with 159 patients in intensive care, one more than the day before. The government said on Twitter that 99 new patients were admitted to hospital yesterday.

The majority of Slovenian hospitals will be forced to suspend all elective procedures to increase the capacity of overflowing Covid-19 wards.

Commenting on the current situation, Bojana Beović, the infectious diseases specialist who heads the national advisory committee on immunisation, said that the virus was currently spreading in the population virtually in a natural way, as the vaccination rate was not high enough to curb the spreading.

The government is expected to decide on new restrictive measures proposed by a group of experts on Covid-19 on Thursday.

The estimated number of active infections in the country is at 29,354, according to data by the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ).

The seven-day average of new daily cases increased by 46 on the day before to 2,223 as the 14-day incidence per 100,000 people rose by 62 to 1,391.

So far, the highest daily count of new cases was recorded on 5 January, when 3,428 people tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, according to NIJZ data.

The vaccination rate for the entire population currently stands at 53%, for those over 18 years old at 63% and for those over 50 at 74%.