The state of alert has been extended

The Romanian government has approved the extension of the state of alert by another 30 days.

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Roxana Vasile, 06.08.2021, 14:00

Romania will remain in a state of alert. On Thursday the government approved the extension of the state of alert by another 30 days starting on August 11, with the current restrictions being maintained. We recall that, since May 15 last year, after two months of state of emergency, Romania has been in a state of alert, which has been extended successively up to the present moment.

On the other hand, Bucharest has updated the list of countries with an epidemiological risk. Thus, as of Sunday, France enters the red list, alongside Greece, Spain, Great Britain, Ireland and Portugal. Unvaccinated people arriving in Romania from these countries will be quarantined for 14 days. Exempted from the rule are children under 3 and also children between 3 and 16 years old, if they provide a negative Covid test.

Turkey has been added to the yellow list which also includes Belgium and Israel. Italy and Germany remain in the green zone. Instead, the UK has included Romania on the green list of countries with an epidemiological risk, which means that, starting on Sunday, Romanians traveling to Great Britain will no longer have to be quarantined, regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not. Nevertheless, Romanian citizens arriving in the UK must present a negative PCR test performed ahead of their entering the British territory and take a second test two days after arrival.

All these against the backdrop of an increasing number of new cases of infection in Romania! In the past days, the daily number of infections has exceeded 200. Around 500 Covid patients are hospitalized, of whom around 70 are in intensive care, a situation comparable with that reported at the end of June. Fortunately, the number of deaths caused by the novel coronavirus remains low. While waiting for the 4th pandemic wave, which might occur in September according to specialists, the authorities are calling on the population to get vaccinated, as vaccination is the safest way to avoid a serious form of the disease.

The manager of the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Timişoara (west), Cristian Oancea, told Radio Romania that he expected the pressure on the healthcare system to no longer be that high — as during the 2nd wave when medical units had a hard time coping with the number of Covid cases. However, Romanians are still reticent about vaccination in comparison with other Europeans. The number of fully vaccinated people has exceeded 4.9 million. At least for the time being, the authorities say they are counting on raising people’s awareness of the importance of vaccination, and not on imposing restrictive measures that could lead to discrimination. (LS)