People buy vegetables at a market in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on Feb. 16, 2021. Slovenia on Tuesday reported 740 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the national tally to 180,507. (Photo by Zeljko Stevanic/Xinhua)
LJUBLJANA, Feb. 16 (Xinhua) -- Slovenia on Tuesday reported 740 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the national tally to 180,507.
On Monday, 4,402 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests were performed, of which 16.8 percent came back positive, as well as 37,830 rapid antigen tests where all those who tested positive were tested again with PCR tests, the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) said.
The national COVID-19 tracker site Sledilnik showed that the country currently has 12,102 active cases. A total of 691 patients are being treated in hospitals, 127 of them in intensive care. Five new deaths, the lowest daily fatalities in nearly four months, took the toll to 3,733.
The last time Slovenia had fewer than 700 COVID-19 patients in hospitals was on Oct. 28, at 660 with 109 in intensive care. The last time fewer than five patients died in a single day was on Oct. 19.
"The infections are scattered across the country, which means the situation is still not as good as we would want it to be," the government's COVID-19 spokesperson Maja Bratusa said at the daily press briefing.
All primary school students and final-year secondary school students from western and central Slovenia returned to school on Monday after a break of over four months.
As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, vaccination is underway in some countries with the already-authorized coronavirus vaccines.
Meanwhile, 242 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide -- 63 of them in clinical trials -- in countries including Germany, China, Russia, Britain and the United States, according to information released by the World Health Organization on Feb. 9. Enditem
