Experts estimate the real number of people infected with coronavirus in Slovakia at a maximum of 50,000. Richard Kollár from the Department of Applied Mathematics and Statistics at Comenius University in Bratislava told the SITA press agency that the figure of 200,000 infected people which was communicated by members of the government on Sunday was mistaken. "It is dangerous, because such a number would play into the hands of the conspiracy scene and support their argument that all our measures are unnecessary. I recommend correcting this mistake as soon as possible, or clearly communicating that it is not the current number of infected people, even though it may be the correct number in the future," said the expert in dynamic mathematical modelling.
According to the former head of the Health Ministry's analytical unit, Martin Smatana, the Government may have tried to address a warning to the public about what awaits people if they are not responsible. According to him, the number of those infected in the population can be estimated in several ways, but neither method will result in such a high number.
At a press conference on Sunday, after the meeting of the Central Crisis Staff, the Minister of Labour, Social Affairs and Family, Milan Krajniak, stated that up to 200,000 people were infected. "This is an estimate of the number of possible infected persons according to the currently existing percentage of confirmed COVID-19 diseases in the world," the Slovak Health Ministry added in a statement.
