The epidemiological situation in Slovenia has been improving, which has prompted a gradual relaxation of restrictions and as of Friday, ski centres in the country will open, with more businesses likely to start reopening on Monday.

In the last 24 hours there have been 1,439 new coronavirus infections and 25 related fatalities, and even though the number of infections is almost the same as on Thursday, the number of hospitalisations and active cases has continued to fall, the government said.

There are 19,008 active cases in the country, around 600 fewer than on Thursday and 1,159 people are hospitalised, including 182 in intensive care wards.

Even though indicators over the past seven days show a trend of mild decline, a study designed to identify the presence of coronavirus in sewage shows a still very high presence of the virus, similar to that at the end of last year.