In the past 24 hours 1,767 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Slovenia and restrictions will remain in place by 22 January at the earliest, the government said on Thursday, extending the state of epidemic for another two months.

The government said the conditions did not allow for relaxing restrictions because the number of daily infections are still high, although the number of hospitalisations is stabilising.

In the past 24 hours 1,415 of the 5,637 PCR tests done came back positive, while 5,857 rapid antigen tests confirmed 352 infections, the Health Ministry said.

The number of active cases is 23,230 and the daily average of new infections in the past seven days is 1,549, with both indicators declining.

Currently, 1,244 COVID-19 patients are hospitalised, including 205 in intensive care.

In the past 24 hours, 17 COVID-19 patients have died, bringing the death toll to 3,070.

By Tuesday 24,462 people in Slovenia have been vaccinated against the virus.