Slovenians are a special nation. The Slovenian population alone is remarkable – there are just two million of us living in Slovenia and less than half a million in other parts of the world.

In the light of adopting measures to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, a meeting of the National Security Council convened by Prime Minister Janez Janša was held today. The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, ministers and the representatives of opposition parties also attended the meeting.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anže Logar, hosted the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary, Péter Szijjárto, in Ljubljana today. The visit was aimed at establishing personal links between the ministers of two neighbouring countries in an emergency situation, when all European and other countries all over the world are facing the coronavirus pandemic.

Bojana Beovič, the Head of the Expert Group that provides support to the Crisis Staff of the Republic of Slovenia for the containment and control of the COVID-19 epidemic, said that, according to the latest data, there were 253 confirmed coronavirus cases in Slovenia by 2 p.m. today.

Government Office for Development and European Cohesion Policy has announced that this year's campaign EU Project, My Project, which was originally planned to take place between 9 and 16 May 2020, has been called off. The campaign has been rescheduled to 19–26 September 2020, but the date is yet to be officially confirmed.

In today’s telephone conversation with President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, Prime Minister Janez Janša discussed the European Union measures necessary to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

At its meeting by correspondence today, the Government adopted the Proposal for the Act on temporary measures regarding judicial, administrative and other public law-related matters to curb the spread of SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19).

The Government adopted the ordinance on a temporary ban on the sale of goods and services to consumers in the Republic of Slovenia, issued the Ordinance on the allocation of doctors without licences, and revoked the validity of the Order on prohibiting the sale of protective equipment.

In accordance with the agreement at the session of the Crisis Staff of the Republic of Slovenia for the containment and control of the COVID-19 epidemic, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted an Ordinance on temporary ban and restrictions on public transport of passengers in the Republic of Slovenia. The Ordinance temporarily bans public transport of passengers in the Republic of Slovenia for the purpose of containing and controlling the COVID-19 epidemic. The Orinance enters into force on March 16, 2020 at 00.00.

Today, Prime Minister Janez Janša addressed the mayors of Slovenian municipalities, calling on them to become involved as quickly as possible in helping with the organisation of at-home childcare. In addition, he also informed the heads of healthcare and care institutions of this and asked them to provide the mayors with a list of urgent needs as soon as possible.

The crisis unit of the Republic of Slovenia to contain and manage the COVID-19 epidemic that was appointed yesterday met at its first session chaired by Prime Minister Janez Janša. The unit discussed the situation in the international environment, particularly in immediate neighbouring countries, and current developments in Slovenia. The members of the unit held a thorough discussion and agreed to implement several concrete measures to contain the epidemic. Furthermore, Jelko Kacin was appointed the official speaker of the crisis unit.

The expert team providing assistance to the crisis unit to contain and manage the COVID-19 epidemic proposed to change the diagnostics method that is based on the number of severely ill people. Prime Minister Janez Janša emphasised that this method would enable a more realistic adoption of measures and plans for the allocation of essential resources.

After being appointed yesterday by the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia as new minister without portfolio, responsible for development, strategic projects and cohesion, Zvonko Černač today took over office from the outgoing minister dr. Angelika Mlinar. At the handover event, the new minister highlighted he would pursue two principal goals, i.e. fully absorbing and using the funding allocated to Slovenia in the current period and having the programming documents for the upcoming period prepared in time. The new minister thanked his predecessor for the work done, while dr. Mlinar wished her successor every wisdom and success as he took over the reins of the government office.

After today's handover, Minister Boštjan Koritnik took office at the Ministry of Public Administration.

The outgoing Minister of the Interior Boštjan Poklukar handed over power to the incoming Minister of the Interior Aleš Hojs on 14 March 2020. They reviewed the matters concerning the sector and signed a record of the meeting.

At the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning (MOP), departing Minister Simon Zajc handed over operations to the new Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning Andrej Vizjak.

Today, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dr Miro Cerar handed over the duties to his successor Dr Anže Logar. During the handover, Minister Logar outlined his first activities in office related to the exchange of information with neighbouring counterparts in light of the coronavirus outbreak.

At today’s press conference, given together with Minister of Health Tomaž Gantar and Dr Bojana Beovič, the Head of the Expert Group that provides support to Slovenia’s Crisis Staff for the containment and control of the COVID-19 epidemic, Prime Minister Janez Janša talked about how the Government had decided to change the way the spread of the new coronavirus is monitored.

At today's session, the Government set up a Crisis Management Headquarters of the Republic of Slovenia in order to contain and manage the COVID-19 epidemic. The Government also discussed measures to contain the epidemic.
At the proposal of the Prime Minister, they also appointed Deputy Prime Minister, and Dr Božo Predalič was appointed Secretary General of the Government. They also set up a State Organisation and Public Affairs Committee of the Republic of Slovenia, Economic Committee of the Republic of Slovenia as well as an Administrative Affairs and Appointment Committee of the Republic of Slovenia. Several state secretaries have also been appointed.

Given the epidemiological situation, we have now entered the second phase. We must limit social contact to the greatest possible extent to stem the spread of coronavirus infections in the most effective way and to keep the health system operational. There is no ban on freight traffic from Italy to Slovenia for the transport of postal items, protective equipment and medical supplies, medicines and philanthropic assistance. The border with Italy can also be crossed by freight shipments whose ultimate destination is Slovenia.