Slovenia Tightens Virus Controls

Ljubljana, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 26th Oct, 2020 ) :The Slovenian government is tightening coronavirus lockdown measures from Tuesday after announcing new border restrictions amid a surge in infections.

New controls entered into force on Monday on most of Slovenia's frontiers with Italy, Austria, Hungary and Croatia after several regions in those countries were designated "red" under the European Union system for identifying coronavirus risk areas.

Police said citizens from those regions can only enter Slovenia if they fulfil one of the numerous exceptions, for example being cross-border commuters, owning property in Slovenia, attending school or visiting relatives.

Otherwise those wanting to enter have to present a negative test certificate no older than 48 hours.

As the situation continues to worsen, Slovenians will not be allowed to leave their home municipalities from Tuesday.

Under a partial lockdown already in force since Saturday kindergartens, schools, universities and non-essential shops are closed. A curfew was also imposed last week.

"The number of new cases continues to grow, therefore we are putting in place additional measures from our plan," Prime Minister Janez Jansa tweeted late Sunday.

Slovenia -- a country of two million -- on Monday registered another record high number of new cases, bringing the overall figure to 24,000 infections and 248 deaths.

Slovenia, and several other countries in the region, escaped the worst of the first wave of the pandemic in the spring but has been severely hit by the second.