LJUBLJANA (Reuters) – Slovenia will from Friday lift coronavirus border restrictions for Austrians, a government spokesman said on Thursday, following a similar move by neighbouring Austria to lift border restrictions for Slovenians.

Slovenia had introduced border checks and travelling restrictions to prevent the spread of the virus, including obligatory quarantine for most people entering the country.

Over the past weeks it has lifted restrictions for citizens from neighbouring Croatia and Hungary.

The spokesman said Slovenia will decide on whether to lift restrictions for citizens from neighbouring Italy following the Saturday visit of Italian Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio in Ljubljana.

Slovenia introduced a general coronavirus lockdown in the middle of March and has started to gradually lift it from April 20. In May it became the first European state to declare an end to its coronavirus epidemic but people are still obliged to keep social distance and wear face masks in indoor public spaces.

The country has so far reported 1,477 coronavirus cases and 109 deaths.

(Reporting By Marja Novak;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)

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