MORNING NEWS HIGHLIGHTS - Sunday, April 18, 2021 - 9 a.m.

TASR brings a quick morning overview of the most important events seen in Slovakia on the previous day (Saturday, April 17): NEW POSITIVE PCR TESTS: 750 Positive PCR tests in total: 375,336 NEW POSITIVE ANTIGEN TESTS: 940 Positive antigen tests in total: 366,794 NEW DEATHS: 73 Deaths in total: 11,043 BRATISLAVA - The actions taken by Finance Minister Igor Matovic (OLaNO) can only be addressed by Prime Minister Eduard Heger (OLaNO), who can count on the support of Freedom and Solidarity (SaS), Vice-premier and SaS chairman Richard Sulik said on RTVS's talk show 'Sobotne dialogy' (Saturday Dialogues). Former premier and leader of the extra-parliamentary Voice-SD party Peter Pellegrini stated on the show that the only solution is to remove Matovic from office. According to Sulik, the fact that Matovic didn't take a diplomat to Budapest is a disgrace to the country, it shouldn't have happened. He added that Matovic is a problem for the prime minister, as he is his superior. He is convinced that Heger will take action, but he didn't want to say how Heger should "deal with" Matovic. BRATISLAVA - Jan Podmanicky, a former long-time MP for Smer-SD, has become the vice-chairman of the extra-parliamentary Life-National Party (Life) at the party's congress on Saturday, TASR learnt from spokesman Tomas Bubla on the same day. Chairman of the Life party is independent MP Tomas Taraba. Vladimir Chovan and MP Filip Kuffa have become other party vice-chairmen. The party congress also approved the preparation of a merger with the non-parliamentary Well at Home party and entrusted Taraba to agree on the conditions of integration with other political parties interested in cooperating with the Life-National Party. BRATISLAVA - Companies in Slovakia are not planning to hire new employees for the time being; out of a sample of approximately 1,000 companies operating in Slovakia, only about 23 percent consider recruiting new staff, according to a survey by Elanor Slovakia, which supplies human resources information systems. This is the lowest value over the past 15 years. The companies are more than cautious due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic and unclear economic developments," said company's country manager Ivan Zizic. According to the survey, 15 percent of companies want to lay off their staff in the second half of the year. "The remaining 63 percent of companies are still waiting for the outlook for the economy and how the pandemic-related measures will be eased," he stated. VYSOKE TATRY - Many smaller accommodation facilities, such as boarding houses or holiday apartments in the High Tatras, have confirmed their opening in connection with the easing of anti-epidemic measures as of Monday (April 19), head of Regional Tourism Organisation (OOCR), High Tatras Region Lucia Blaskova told TASR, adding that larger hotels are still hesitant due to the restrictions related to the additional services, such as restaurants and wellness. am