Romania saw record-high numbers of COVID-19
\ninfections last week, with over 34,000 cases on Wednesday and more than 168,000
\nfor the entire week. The number of related deaths remains lower than during the
\nautumn wave.<\/p>\n
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However, there are concerns related to the
\ntransmission of the virus among children, as classes are held on-site across
\nthe country until 75% of the hospital beds set aside for COVID patients are
\noccupied in any given county. <\/p>\n
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On Sunday, 3,800 children tested positive for
\nthe coronavirus, and the total number for last week reached nearly 36,000. Kids
\nhave become a COVID transmission vector, and the number of cases rises
\nexponentially from one day to the next, says the president of the Family
\nDoctors Association in Ialomi\u0163a, Andreea Radu: <\/p>\n
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Andreea Radu: Children are known to spread the virus
\nvery easily, because they learn and play in large groups. Although the Omicron variant
\nseems to cause milder forms of the disease, especially compared to the Delta, you
\nnever know in what category you fall, whether you will indeed have a mild form
\nor not. <\/p>\n
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Some hospitals in the country open paediatric COVID
\nunits to handle the severe cases among children. The manager of the Slobozia County
\nEmergency Hospital Liviu Patrichi warns that the number of such cases is
\ngrowing: <\/p>\n
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Liviu Patrichi: The problem we are facing now
\ncompared to the other waves of the pandemic is the large number of mild and
\nmedium cases among children. We have opened a COVID paediatric unit, which is
\nrunning at the capacity specified in the resilience plan. We have 9 dedicated
\nbeds for paediatric cases.<\/p>\n
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The health minister Alexandru Rafila said his professional
\nadvice for the parents who want to have their children vaccinated against COVID
\nis to get properly informed in advance. He added the immunisation of kids aged 5
\nto 11 runs smoothly and the good organisation gives confidence to parents. <\/p>\n
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The upward trend in the number of COVID-19 cases
\nwill last for another few days, Alexandru Rafila also said. In hospitals, the
\nnumber of COVID patients is on the rise, and the complications and severe cases
\nthat reach ICUs are mainly caused by the Delta variant, which still accounts
\nfor around 20% of the new infections. <\/p>\n
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Mr. Rafila also estimates that in about 2 weeks’
\ntime, the already prevailing Omicron variant will have completely replaced
\nDelta in Romania as well, which will slow down the inflow of patients in hospitals.
\nAccording to him, this will be the last wave likely to have a serious impact on
\npublic health, and starting this spring we might resume public and private
\nevents with large numbers of participants, which have been subject to the most
\nsevere restrictions over the past 2 years. (A.M.P.)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The number of children and teenagers diagnosed with COVID-19 in Romania is growing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":88353,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[37738],"tags":[35392,29948,35339,35374,36442,36602,35673],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-90992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-today-in-the-news","tag-cases","tag-children","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-omicron","tag-rise","tag-schools"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n