Romania, in the fifth wave of Covid-19 pandemic

The country takes measures to fight the virus.

Eugen Coroianu, 10.01.2022, 14:00

Romania clearly is in the 5th wave of the pandemic, Health Minister Alexandru Rafila has announced. In his opinion, there is a sporadic transmission of the Omicron variant at the moment, which will turn into community transmission in a week or two. Rafila has explained that the number of daily infections increased from hundreds to thousands and, although the situation seems to have stabilized, it does not mean things went back to normal. “We are on one of the fastest growing trends in Europe, and I do not only refer to the EU. We are on the 2nd or 3rd place so we have no reason to relax. On the contrary, we must be very cautious. Our hope is that these new cases will not threaten our health system,” the minister told a TV station.

Rafila has also said a very clear patient protocol was put in place and the testing capacity will be increased. Thus, steps have been taken for the quick payment of general practitioners for testing services. Also, 160 outpatient assessment centers for patients with moderate symptoms have been identified. These centers are part of hospitals and of other specialized outpatient clinics that have not been used for this purpose in the previous period. The criteria based on which patients will be sent to these units are to be drawn up. Citizens can access an interactive map with all these information so that they know where to go. This map will include all testing centres operational within general practice units. It is important for patients to go to these centers when they are not in a critical situation, Alexandru Rafila has said.

The minister has announced that at the end of this month Romanian authorities will have innovative antiviral drugs for patients with moderate symptoms and patients at risk. This will be an outpatient treatment that must be taken in the first days after infection. The minister has also said that, in his opinion, vaccination will not be mandatory in Romania, and that more work should be done on informing the citizens. He has also emphasized the fact that vaccination is very important to prevent critical situations and deaths. In Romania the vaccination pace continues to be slow. Romania ranks one but last in Europe in this respect, in spite of having enough doses from every vaccine approved in the EU. (EE)