Ljubljana - Slovenia confirmed 23,433 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday. While this is by far the largest figure since the start of the pandemic, it is to a large extent the result of a new rule where rapid tests are automatically added to the tally without being double-checked with the more precise PCR tests.

The record daily figure has brought the 14-day case notification rate to 8,851, up by more than 500 on the day before, while the seven-day average of new daily cases climbed by almost 800 to 14,737, show the latest figures by the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ).

The NIJZ estimates there are currently almost 187,000 active cases in the country, the equivalent of about 8% of the entire population.

A total of 407 patients are hospitalised with Covid-19 as their main condition at regular wards and another 113 at intensive care units (ICU), after 12 more Covid-19 patients died on Tuesday, according to the government.

In all, 929 patients infected patients are in hospitals.

Mateja Logar, the head of the government's Covid advisory group, told public broadcaster RTV Slovenija today that the figure for Tuesday was in fact a sum of two days' figures.

Previously, as all positive rapid antigen tests had to be confirmed with PCR tests, the results of the latter were usually transferred to the next day. But this week all positive rapid tests were automatically recorded on Tuesday.

In addition, some PCR test results were added that had been analysed in Germany, she said. So in fact, the number of new infections is not actually that higher than the day before.

Given the changed methodology it is thus a bit harder to assess whether the peak of the epidemic has already been reached or not, Logar said.

"We all hope that the peak has in fact been reached and that in the next few days we will reach the phase when the number of cases in the general population will start decreasing. Hopefully this decrease will be fast," she said.

In relative terms, the pressure on hospitals has not been so severe. About 1% of those infected need hospitalisation, while before this share was at 3-4%, Logar said.

However, the problem is that with 10,000 cases this 1% is 100 people, she added, noting that hospitalisations had risen significantly this week compared to last and this trend was expected to continue in the coming weeks.