Coronavirus in Slovenia: Closed borders with Italy and canceled flights from Brnik

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Prime Minister Marjan Šarec has announced he has ordered the closure of the border with Italy. The measure, which Šarec said was modeled on Austria’s, does not apply for cargo transport. In a statement, he said that the number of coronavirus cases had risen by another three to reach 34 this afternoon.

Šarec tweeted he had ordered the closure to the health and interior affairs ministries and that the measure was in line with the agreement on joint and proportionate measures due to the major outbreak of Coronavirus in Slovenia.

The government tweeted that the border would be closed as soon as technical and administrative conditions are met. “This is a necessary measure if we want to have the situation under control. Italy has declared quarantine in the entire country but people are disregarding this and continue to leave Italy. It’s high time we take action. In Primorska, a lot of people cross the border daily, we know that children [from Italy] are in kindergartens on this side of the border, for example.

Slovenia will strive to remain in the first phase of the spreading of the virus as long as possible, the government’s official Twitter account also said, adding that cargo transport would not be limited so as not to cause damage to the economy, despite the Coronavirus in Slovenia.

From Italy to Slovenia only with a Coronavirus negative certificate

The closure follows the ban on arrivals from Italy introduced a few hours earlier by Austria. The ban does not apply to Austrian citizens returning home and persons carrying a doctor’s note certifying they are healthy. Also allowed is transit travel through Austria without stopovers after the outbreak of Coronavirus in Europe.

The Slovenian Foreign Ministry expanded today its travel warning to the whole of Italy and advised Slovenians in Italy to return home after Coronavirus in Slovenia. According to the Government’s decision, entry into Slovenia will be started at the border with Italy starting today. Travelers from Italy will need to show a negative certificate of release for the new sars-cov-2 virus issued to them by the competent authority. The certificate must be in Slovenian, English or Italian and must not be more than three days old.

Meanwhile, in the afternoon, when the total reported number of the confirmed cases was still 34, the Health Ministry said almost 1,500 people had been tested.

Measures for containing the spreading of the virus were stepped up in line with Monday’s announcement. A ban is in place on indoor gatherings that include more than 100 people, which has affected most cultural events. There are a few exemptions to the ban, including shopping malls, weddings, and funerals due to Coronavirus in Slovenia.

University lectures in large lecture halls have been canceled for the next two weeks, while kindergartens and schools remain open for now amid the outbreak of Coronavirus in Slovenia.

Temperature screenings are expected to be introduced in the coming days at Ljubljana airport, which is seeing an increasing number of flight cancellations.

Meanwhile, fears of supply problems were assuaged today by Agriculture, Food and Forestry Minister Aleksandra Pivec, who stressed the supply of food products in Slovenia was not disrupted or in peril.

Brnik airport banned planes from infected areas

Due to the new coronavirus in Slovenia, the airport in Brnik banned flights from infected areas. However, it is expected that more will be known today about the implementation of another measure: temperature measurement for passengers at the Brnik airport amid Coronavirus in Slovenia.

Due to the Coronavirus in Slovenia, the afternoon connections to Belgrade were already canceled, the morning flights to and from Frankfurt, the afternoon departures and arrivals from Brussels, and flights to and from Podgorica.

Source: STA