Slovakia's daily COVID cases jump to highest since March

[October 06, 2021]  PRAGUE (Reuters) - Slovakia reported 1,971 new coronavirus cases on Wednesday, the highest daily tally since March 23, amid a surge of infections largely among unvaccinated people.

The health ministry said three quarters of the cases confirmed by PCR testing were among people who had not been vaccinated.

The number of patients with or suspected of having COVID-19 rose to 753, the ministry said, staying below peaks of nearly 4,000 in March.

Slovakia has been one of the slowest countries in the European Union to vaccinate its people and is seeing a jump in cases similar to rises in other countries, like Romania and Bulgaria, where vaccination levels are also relatively low.

But the rise in Slovak cases has been slower than government forecasts, that had warned of a spike to as many as 3,000 cases a day by the end of September.

About 52% of the Slovak adult population is fully vaccinated compared with an overall rate of 74% in the EU, according to data from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC).

Vaccine scepticism has been boosted by some opposition parties including the former ruling party Smer, of former prime minister Robert Fico, who has said he would not get vaccinated.

(Reporting by Jason Hovet; Editing by Robert Birsel)

[© 2021 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2021 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content