Slovenia becomes the first European country to declare the end of the pandemic within its territories. The Slovenian government on Friday said that the spread of the deadly virus is under control and that there is no longer a need for extraordinary health measures. Prime Minister Janez Jansa declared that “Today Slovenia has the best epidemic situation in Europe, which enables us to call off the general epidemic”.
The government continues to relax restrictions adopted due to the #COVID19 epidemichttps://t.co/fOcygAKBbs pic.twitter.com/n7yrlRJULM
— Slovenian Government (@govSlovenia) May 14, 2020
The announcement comes against the backdrop of the country reporting less than 7 new cases every day for the past 14 days. Restrictions have been eased in the country and people entering from other European Union states would no longer be subjected to a mandatory quarantine period of one week while non-European Union citizens will have to stay in quarantine. All shops and driving schools will be allowed to resume services. Schools will be allowed to function with students in pre-schools along with first 3 grades of primary school. Food shops however, will function only from 8 AM to 6 PM.
Slovenia borders Italy and has 2 million people. As of Thursday, it reported 1500 positive cases and 103 deaths.