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Slovenia opened its borders today after declaring the end of its coronavirus epidemic, despite new infections still being reported.
“Today Slovenia has the best epidemic situation in Europe, allowing us to suspend the general epidemic,” said Prime Minister Janez Jansa, two months after the epidemic was declared.
The mountainous nation of two million people, which borders Italy, had reported some 1,500 cases of coronavirus and 103 deaths as of Thursday.
But with the decline in the rate of new infections, the government ordered that the borders be opened for all EU citizens, while non-EU citizens should remain in quarantine.
“Because the danger of spreading the SARS-CoV-2 virus persists, some general and special measures will continue to apply,” he said in a statement, using a technical term for the disease COVID-19.
Public gatherings are still prohibited, while the rules of social distancing and the use of masks remain mandatory in public spaces.
Earlier this week, the government said some shopping malls and hotels could reopen next week.
It also announced soccer and all other team competitions could resume as of May 23.
Despite the fact that Slovenia apparently declared the end of the epidemic, experts clarified that the disease was still present in the country.
“So far, no other European state has declared that the epidemic has ended, so we must be cautious in Slovenia as well,” infectious disease expert Mateja Logar told public television on Thursday.
“The virus remains present,” added Logar.
Declaring the end of the epidemic meant that the government avoided an automatic extension until the end of June of the first package of approved economic measures to help the population and businesses, according to Public Radio Slovenija.
These measures will be in force until the end of May.
This story has been published from a cable agency source without modification to the text.
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