Ljubljana - Slovenia's daily coronavirus case count hit 4,511 on Wednesday, up by more than a thousand on the record tally recorded the day before as the epidemic appears to be slipping out of control with hospitals filling up fast.

Figures released by the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) show over 44% of the 10,156 PCR tests performed yesterday returned positive.

Government data shows the number of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 has increased to 735, with 169 of them now being treated in intensive care. Nine patients lost their lives.

According to the tracker site covid-19.sledilnik.org 131 patients were newly admitted yesterday as only 57 were discharged.

The youngest ICU patient is 21 and the youngest patient at the regular ward is less than a year old, figures released by the government show. UKC Ljubljana said the baby was treated at the Paediatric Clinic.

NIJZ estimates that there are now 32,021 active coronavirus cases in the country.

The seven-day average of new daily cases has increased to 2,491, up by 268 on the day before, and the 14-day incidence per 100,000 rose by 127 to 1,518.

Government data shows 1,191,148 people or 57% of Slovenia's population have been vaccinated with the first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine and 1,121,506 or 53% have been fully vaccinated.

Among the adults the share of fully vaccinated is 63% and among the over 50-year-olds it is 74%.