New restrictions announced in Romania

Romania braces for new anti-Covid measures to come into effect on Monday

Roxana Vasile, 21.10.2021, 14:00

The state has failed in the mission to protect its
citizens, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has recently said admitting that preparations
for the pandemic’s fourth wave were faulty and the vaccine rollout sluggish.

Klaus Iohannis: This is a
period of suffering, a national drama of huge proportions. However, we have no
other options but to overcome it. The key priority now is to save our people,
to protect the health of those vulnerable and sick, whom medical assistance can
help overcome this pandemic.

Iohannis summoned all government officials involved in
the anti-Covid campaign on Wednesday to take new restrictive and prevention
measures. Stepping up the country’s vaccine rollout is the only solution to
stop the pandemic, the president says while describing the present situation as
a medical catastrophe. According to him, urgent decisions are needed for the
short-term reduction of mobility and human interaction. President Iohannis

Klaus Iohannis: It is regrettable,
but we must impose restrictions, which are going into effect as of Monday. The
government is to make a decision on what restrictions to apply shortly, on
Friday at the latest, after the National committee and experts in the field
have established all the details of these laws and put them in legal language,
of course. I only want to give a couple of examples – we are going to have
another night curfew and only those vaccinated and those involved in legal
activities will be allowed to travel at night. And only those presenting a
green certificate will be able to attend most of the daytime activities,
whereas those unvaccinated unfortunately are going to face a series of
restrictions. This situation is going to improve as soon as people have
understood to get the vaccine and we have got rid of this pandemic. Until then,
we wish you all to stay in good health!

Outdoor mask mandates are to come into effect also on
Monday while students in Romania’s education system have been given a two-week
holiday.

Romania has this week reported record numbers of
infections and fatalities caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the vaccine
rollout kicked off in Romania, in late December 2020, over 6 million people
have got the jab, way below the target initially set by the authorities.