Ljubljana - Slovenia's helpline providing information on coronavirus will no longer be available after Friday. The government has decided to shut it down as the epidemic is receding and measures are being relaxed, which has resulted in a large drop in queries. State institutions will step in to fill any gaps that might arise after this.

Under the decision adopted on Wednesday, ministries and other institutions will provide information in their respective areas of competence through call centres or via telephone numbers.

The Health Ministry is in charge of providing information on current measures to stem the spread of the virus, eligibility for the Covid pass or efforts to provide Covid vaccination and testing. For questions seeking expert answers on hygiene and epidemiological recommendations, the digital Covid certificate or vaccination, the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) can be contacted, and the Foreign Ministry is the institution to contact when in doubt over consular matters.

Updated information on coronavirus is also available on the government and NIJZ websites www.gov.si/koronavirus and www.nijz.si, the government said after yesterday's session.

The Covid helpline has been operating for two years with a couple of brief hiatuses, having been launched on 9 March 2020. During its 441 days of operation, it has provided answers to questions from more than 379,000 callers, answering an average 860 calls per day. Most of the calls were made during the toughening or relaxation of Covid restrictions.