Slovakia in lockdown records new daily record in infections

BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) — Coronavirus cases in Slovakia hit a daily record despite the country entering a national lockdown last week, the Health Ministry reported Friday.

The ministry said Slovakia confirmed 15,278 new cases on Thursday, almost 5,000 more than the previous record set Nov 23. The government ordered a two-week lockdown that started Nov. 25.

However, the ministry attributed the size of the most recent daily increase to some test results not getting from labs to the information system on Tuesday; those results were added to Thursday's tally, it said.

Other data confirmed that infections are on the rise in Slovakia. The country registered 61,515 new cases in the last seven days, compared to 57,992 the previous week.

Under the lockdown, people are allowed to leave their homes only for specific reasons, and those who are unvaccinated and have not recovered from COVID-19 are required to get tested for the virus to attend work.

Slovakia's parliament is debating a government proposal to pay people 60 and older a 500-euro ($567) bonus if they get vaccinated against COVID-19.

The country has one of the European Union's lowest vaccination rates, with only 46.3% of the 5.5 million population fully vaccinated.

Slovakia has reported a total of 712,000 coronavirus cases and 14,696 deaths in the pandemic.

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