The school doors will close again

Public life will come to a complete standstill for the third time in the coming days. Between April 1 and 12, we will only be able to move around in our own region.

Only the most urgent service activities, such as markets, post offices and banks, will be opened, and public transport will be slightly curtailed.

At the same time, schools will be closed and children will undergo distance learning.

There will be three exceptions, said Education Minister Simona Kustec. Kindergardens and the first triad of primary schools will be open for emergency care, as well as institutions for children with special needs.

We are in a battle with time. The pace of vaccination ensures that full vaccination, which will really help to stop the epidemic, will be reached in June. Until then, additional measures need to be taken mainly due to the prevalence of the English coronavirus strain, which is spreading faster and putting more pressure on hospital capacities.

Janez Janša, prime minister

Failure to act would mean at least some 100 additional deaths by June, Janša announced after yesterday’s meeting with representatives of parliamentary parties, the President of the Republic and the government’s advisory group for covid-19.

The year of the epidemic is leaving repercussions. An epidemic of physical and mental exhaustion is certainly consuming us all. In recent days the data has been worrying. With these measures, we are buying time to vaccinate the most at-risk groups of the population.

Janez Poklukar, minister of health

After April 12, all elementary and high school students will return to school, unless there will be a state of emergency, all participants at yesterday’s press conference assured.

Although school infections account for only a small proportion of all infections, they have been closed since mid-October.

This year, children with special needs gradually returned to them, then the first three years, then all the remaining classes of primary schools and the final years of secondary schools, and then the remaining departments.

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The original version of this article was published on March 28th.

English translation courtesy of JL Flanner, Total Slovenia News, an English language website with news from and about Slovenia.