A DEADLINE for the return of Slovenian holidaymakers from Croatia to their homeland if they want to avoid a quarantine is likely to be set on Saturday or Sunday.

A final decision on this matter may be made by the Slovenian government on Thursday, and the government's spokesman Jelko Kacin said on Tuesday that more and more Slovenian holidaymakers were returning from Croatia.

The measure concerning a 14-day quarantine is expected to kick in by the start of the next week, with enough time given to people to return home before its implementation, Kacin was quoted by the STA news agency as saying.

The data provided by Croatian authorities show that an estimated 160,000 Slovenians are now spending summer holidays in Croatia.

Slovenia has registered 27 new COVID-19 cases

In the last 24 hours, Slovenia has registered 27 new COVID-19 cases, and of them eight have been "imported" from Croatia. Also there have been some imported cases from Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Spain and Kosovo, Kacin said.

Considering Croatia, the spokesman said that nightclubs in Dalmatian resorts were the main hotspots with young people who have caught the virus there intentionally concealing their contacts while having spread the virus around before feeling ill.

On the other hand, Kacin highlighted Istria as a relatively safe destination, but stopped short of hinting at a possibility for Istria to be exempt from restrictive measures. He said that Croatian regions along the border with Slovenia were mainly in the so-called safe epidemiological zone.