On restrictions and vaccination centres

Romanian authorities are expecting the sanitary situation to improve and are considering easing restrictions.

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Corina Cristea, 15.02.2022, 13:50

The Covid pandemic has entered a downward trend in Romania, with the reproduction number currently below 0.9%. Under the circumstances, the authorities are considering easing restrictions and lifting the state of alert. The health minister Alexandu Rafila said these measures would be correlated with important indicators:

“First of all, were looking at a decrease in hospital admissions, in particular the number of patients in intensive care. I urge everyone to have a little more patience and to continue to respect the rules, including continuing vaccination where it is recommended in the case of vulnerable categories, so that we can have a spring that is as close as possible to a normal spring, and the same for next summer and autumn.”

The minister also said that the first restriction to be lifted will be the wearing of face masks in outdoor spaces, as well as other measures, depending on how the situation unfolds in the coming weeks. Only half of Romanias adult population is vaccinated, which is far below the vaccination rate in other European states, a difference that can be seen in the large number of hospital admissions and serious cases, the health minister also said. Despite repeated calls, peoples interest in vaccination remains low, and many vaccination centres will be closing because of low demand. Some of those that will remain open may be used as testing centres, said the coordinator of the vaccination campaign Valeriu Gheorghiţă:

“We have identified 322 vaccination centres where fewer than 10 vaccine doses are administered daily. 171 of them will be closed. Some of the others will probably be transformed into testing centres, where this is possible and if they are easily accessible for patients, especially in the countryside, while other centres will provide both testing and vaccination.”

8.1 million people in Romania have received at least one dose of the Covid vaccine. (CM)