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| - The Slovenian government could gradually start loosening the EU nation's lockdown next week if the current favourable trends of the COVID-19 epidemic continue, Prime Minister Janez Jansa said Tuesday. "Positive experiences allow us to study and plan loosening some restrictions starting next Tuesday if some conditions are met," Jansa said in an address broadcasted live. He added that factories and service providers that can ensure the safety of their workers and customers ,with the use of protective gear and other cautionary measures, could be among the first to be allowed to resume operations. Slovenia, an EU state of two million people bordering Italy, has managed to contain the spreading of the coronavirus epidemic by imposing tough restrictions shortly after the first cases were reported. After a lockdown was declared last month, citizens in Slovenia were banned from travelling around the country and they have been forced to use protective masks and gloves in food shops and other indoor public spaces. On Tuesday, the country's health authorities reported 1,055 confirmed cases of the new coronavirus with 36 deaths. "If the epidemic continues calming down, we will launch additional testings at critical points and a better control of the spreading, which would allow us to gradually suspend some of the movement restrictions that are in place," Jansa added. bk/pvh bk
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