More than 1,000 people killed by COVID-19 in Romania
As of March 22, over 1,000 people have died with COVID-19 in Romania.
Daniela Budu, 13.05.2020, 14:00
The number of people killed by the new coronavirus in Romania has exceeded the threshold of 1,000 persons. According to the Strategic Communication Group, which publishes the official figures reported by the authorities on a daily basis, around 16,000 people have been contaminated across Romania since the confirmation of the first case of coronavirus infection in the country, at the end of February. The good news is that about half of the infected people have recovered from the infection.
For more than two weeks now, the active cases of coronavirus infection in Romania have stabilized at around 7,300-7,500. Moreover, the average number of people who have recovered started to get closer or even exceed, in some days, the number of new contaminations announced daily. But, the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care units has remained constant in this period, at about 250 cases each day. So far, about 270 thousand tests have been processed across Romania.
Statistics show that Romania is the country with the highest number of deaths from Central and Eastern Europe. As regards the Romanian citizens in the Diaspora, the information provided by Romania’s diplomatic missions and consular offices abroad shows that around 3,000 Romanian citizens have been infected with the new coronavirus. More than half of these cases were reported in Italy, but many cases have equally been registered in Spain and Germany. Since the start of the pandemic, over 100 Romanian citizens from abroad have died, most of them in Great Britain, Italy and France — official data show.
Some experts say that the rate of infection with COVID-19 is the same for men, women and children, but their response to the infection is very different. The most vulnerable persons in the face of the new coronavirus are the old people and the people with chronic diseases, although gender is equally important. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the most vulnerable people are the elderly suffering from cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, respiratory system diseases and cancer. The pulmonary complications caused by the new coronavirus have killed more men, the WHO shows. As for children, they are not in the vulnerable category.
We recall that after two months of state of emergency in Romania, there will follow a ‘state of alert’ period which means that severe restrictions will be relaxed, but there will be new obligations. The authorities have announced that measures to combat the spread of COVID-19 are still needed. Therefore, as of Friday, May 15, face masks must be worn in public spaces and in public transportation means. During the ‘state of alert’ period, Romanians will no longer need a self-declaration to leave their homes, but they will need one to leave the city. (translation by L. Simion)