Record daily Covid-19 cases

Romania sees record number of new daily Covid-19 cases, after reopening of schools and with days ahead of local elections.

Eugen Coroianu, 24.09.2020, 14:00

Almost 1,800 new coronavirus cases were reported on
Wednesday in Romania, out of 25,000 tests conducted. Most infections were again
recorded in Bucharest, where the infection rate was 1.35 per 1,000 inhabitants,
the second highest in the country. The national average is 0.82 per 1,000
inhabitants, but it is on the rise. President Klaus Iohannis held a press
conference in which he spoke about some of the plans that are being considered
by the Romanian authorities to tackle this situation. He explained that if the
number of sick persons grows, new measures can be taken at local and county level.
He said infections are not spread evenly and it’s important that the measures should
be proportionate to the risk of transmission. Possible new measures include the
compulsory use of facemasks and mass testing.

Health minister Nelu Tataru says Romania may also make
it obligatory for travellers from countries with a higher infection rate to
produce a negative coronavirus test result or to get tested on arrival. He says
the cost of the tests may be covered by those entering the country and that the
proposal is being considered by the National Public Health Institute. Tataru has
also announced that some 100 million surgical facemasks for underprivileged
persons have reached every county.

As for what the authorities do not want to do is
introduce a new lockdown, like we had in spring. President Klaus Iohannis:

It’s not very likely that we’ll go back to the
state of emergency, because this caused major disruptions in the economy. In
the meantime, we have learnt more about this pandemic, we know how to manage
it, we know how to instate local, county and regional norms and restrictions
and I have every hope that we will manage to contain the spread of this
pandemic thanks to the measures that have so far been tested successfully, with
no need to go back to the state of emergency. The state of emergency must
remain the last resort when nothing else works, and I hope we will not get to
that point.

That was president Klaus Iohannis, who added that closing
schools and returning to exclusively remote teaching is not an option, either.
The Romanian authorities again called on the population to comply with the health
safety regulations in place in order to halt the rise in new infections. (CM)