A year since the first case of Covid-19 in Romania
A year after the first case of Covid-19 was confirmed in Romania, the country reported a death toll of over 20 thousand.
Corina Cristea, 26.02.2021, 14:00
On the 26 of February, 2020, the first Covid-19 infection in Romania was confirmed in a 25-year old man, from the south of the country, who was treated in a hospital in Bucharest and recovered. Two weeks later, the World Health Organisation declared a global pandemic and, on March 16, the state of emergency was declared in Romania. Within a year, the number of confirmed infections in the country reached almost 800 thousand, with over 20 thousand Romanians having died from complications associated with Covid-19.
Romania is now in the grip of a third wave of the pandemic, head of the Centre for Innovation in Medicine, Marius Geanta, said on Radio Romania: “I believe we have been in the third wave for two or three weeks, but figures only now show us the increase in infections. We test less than recommended by the European Centre for the Control of Diseases. That is why the number of new daily cases is rather small as compared to that reported during the second wave, in fall. However, if we consider the patients treated in the ICUs, we see that their number dropped to less than 900 in a few days, and I believe this is a very good indicator. “
The figures reported by the Strategic Communication Group lately show a daily increase in the number of infections, while most counties across Romania have reported infections with the British variant, which is much more contagious. Marius Geanta: “There has been this coincidence between the opening of schools and the increase in the number of infections. On the other hand, we all know people took mountain resorts by storm. If new restrictive measures are taken in respect to some activities, they must be carefully analysed. It is one thing to close down schools again and another thing to limit activities in the hospitality sector, or mountain resorts. “
The Committee for Emergencies, at the proposal of the group for the management of contagious diseases, decided to change the way of calculating the infection rate, by also including hot beds in every locality, such as hospitals and care centres. At the same time, the vaccination campaign, which started on December 27, is in full swing. According to the head of vaccination campaign, Valeriu Gheorghita, Romania ranks 2nd in EU and 6th in the world in terms of number of people vaccinated with the second dose per hundred inhabitants. (EE)
