Ljubljana - Slovenia saw its daily coronavirus count drop on the week before for the third straight day as 1,389 cases were confirmed on Sunday. However, more than half of the PCR tests were positive, and beds available for intensive treatment of Covid-19 patients are all but full, official data show.

According to the government, 1,162 Covid patients were treated in hospitals this morning, including 275 in intensive care, after 16 more patients died on Sunday.

Health Minister Janez Poklukar said last week the full planned ICU capacity for Covid patients was 288 beds. Should the figure be exceeded, he said a state of extreme emergency would be declared in healthcare.

Hospitalisations rose by 36 from the day before and by 154 from the same day a week ago as ICU cases were up by six and 46, respectively.

Speaking at the government press briefing on Monday, Matjaž Vogrin, the medical director of the Maribor UKC hospital, said they were close to reaching the maximum limit, having activated virtually all resources.

He said the ICU bed capacity could be a breaking point, adding that the staff were exhausted with around 450 employees at the country's second largest hospital on sick leave.

"Out of the 123 nurses deployed at intensive Covid therapy, 40 are on sick leave, which shows their being completely exhausted. Our biggest fear perhaps is how long the staff can stand the tempo," he said.

As patients are being moved to the few hospitals that have the few ICU beds left available, Vogrin expects more ICU beds should be made available. Considering the trends, he believes more than 300 will be needed.

Sunday's case count was down by almost 24% from the week before, to push the 7-day average down by 60 from the day before to 3,143, show data from the National Institute of Public Health.

However, the 14-day incidence was still slightly up, by five to 2,123. So is the estimated number of active cases up to 44,743.

50.9% of the PCR tests came back positive yesterday.

Health Ministry data put the overall death toll from Covid-19 at 5,394.