Worsening pandemic situation in Romania

Eight months into its coronavirus outbreak, Romania sees new record numbers of number of new infections, fatalities and patients in intensive care.

Corina Cristea, 08.10.2020, 14:00

The
coronavirus situation has become worrying in Romania, where, after a few days
of 2,000 daily infections on average, the number of new cases has begun to go
up abruptly to reach 3,000 new cases for the first time on Wednesday. The
latest toll also shows a record number of new fatalities and of patients in
intensive care. Romania has 1,050 fully equipped intensive care beds and more
that half of them are currently occupied by patients with coronavirus.

The
health minister Nelu Tătaru again called on the population to respect the
sanitary protection rules in place. He said the medical system can still cope,
but that it shouldn’t be pushed to the limit because some of the medical staff
are also infected. He also warned of the danger posed by public transport and
attending events where hygiene rules are ignored. By respecting certain rules we
will have a low number of cases because the community transmission rate will be
low, he recalled. There are, indeed, new hotbeds in homes for the elderly and
children placement centres, in hospitals, in factories and companies, but let’s
see what caused them, said Nelu Tătaru.

One of the recent measures taken in Bucharest
to contain the spread of the virus is making the wearing of face masks near
schools mandatory and closing theatre, cinema and music venues and gambling halls.
Hotels can only serve food for their guests and restaurants can no longer host
customers indoors. In localities where the incidence rate exceeds 1.5 cases per
1,000 inhabitants, all restaurants, cafes and clubs have been closed for two
weeks. More compliance checks are being conducted at markets and on public
transport.

The
Social Democratic Party in opposition blames the whole situation on the Liberal
government and president Klaus Iohannis. The government has failed to take the
necessary measures for reopening schools safely and has failed to build up a
stock of Remdesivir and to purchase ventilators for hospitals, said the Social
Democrats’ leader Marcel Ciolacu. His party also criticised the decision to close
restaurants and bars, recalling how badly hit was the hospitality sector by the
coronavirus outbreak.

The new restrictions are inevitable in the
current context, emphasised, however, president Klaus Iohannis, adding: the
sooner these measures are introduced and respected, the sooner will we see
their effects, allowing us to lift them again. We are at a critical point,
warned the president and called on everyone to show responsibility.