Slovenia tightens border restrictions over COVID-19

The Slovenian government has decided to step up its border restrictions from Monday ahead of an 11-day COVID-19 lockdown over Easter, reported Xinhua.

According to a decree issued by the government on Sunday, travel to red-listed countries -- all of Slovenia's neighbors are on the red list -- will be prohibited except for cross-border commuters, transit, goods and other emergency exemptions.

Except for daily cross-border commuters, who already have to get tested every seven days with a rapid antigen test, all passengers will have to show a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) test made in an EU or Schengen zone country to avoid mandatory quarantine.

The reason for such requirement is the "disproportionately high number of forged test results," in particular from North Macedonia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, Interior Minister Ales Hojs told the press.

The government has decided to impose an 11-day lockdown from April 1 in a bid to help hospitals cope with an expected influx in COVID-19 patients.

Slovenia on Sunday reported 640 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, taking the national tally to 212,679, data from the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) showed.