The number of patients requiring hospital treatment in Slovenia continues to go up although the number of new coronavirus cases is slowing down, both on a daily and a weekly basis, with 1,389 new cases and 17 COVID-related deaths confirmed in the past 24 hours.

Slovenia has conducted 2,730 coronavirus tests in the past 24 hours, with 50.9% of them (1,389) coming back positive, the country’s health authorities said Monday.

As many as 1,162 COVID-19 patients are receiving hospital treatment, including 276 in intensive care units, a significant increase from a week ago when Slovenia recorded 1,008 hospitalised COVID patients of whom 229 were in ICUs.

According to epidemiologists, the number of hospitalised patients could reach its peak this week while the situation in hospitals, that are running nearly above capacity, could normalise only in late December or early January.