Ljubljana - A total of 528 people tested positive for coronavirus in Slovenia on Sunday, less than two-thirds of the figure reported a week ago, as Covid-19 hospitalisations increased and three more people died, Health Ministry data shows.

A total of 157 patients were treated for the disease in hospitals this morning, up by 15 from yesterday. More discharges would as a rule be expected today. 22 Covid patients still require intensive care.

However, the figure to watch out for is the number of ICU patients infected with Covid-19, which this morning stood at 42, the same figure as yesterday. The group advising the government on Covid has proposed that the indoor face mask mandate be lifted once that number is below 35 for seven consecutive days.

The National Institute of Public Health estimates that there are now fewer than 30,000 actively infected people in the country, at 29,677.

The 14-day notification rate per 100,000 of the population has fallen to 1,406 and the 7-day case count average is at 1,830.

Last week, some 12,900 infections were confirmed, which is 3,800 fewer than a week earlier. The number of hospitalised patients, including those who needed intensive care, dropped as well. A total of 32 deaths were recorded last week, which puts the death total since the start of the epidemic in March 2020 at 7,500.