Western Romania: Modular hospital for COVID-19 patients fills up four days after opening

The modular hospital for coronavirus patients built by the National Defense Ministry on a stadium in Timişoara, a city in western Romania, has no more available beds four days after its opening.

From Wednesday, July 22, to Sunday, July 26, the hospital received 56 patients.

New tents are expected to be set up in the coming days to allow the hospital to receive more patients, News.ro reported.

The hospital works as an external department of the Dr. Victor Popescu Military Hospital in Timişoara. It has a real-time PCR laboratory, which can carry out 40 tests per day, a quarantine camp, and a triage and isolation area.

It was set up this April and became operational last week, as the county of Timiş has seen an increasing number of coronavirus cases.

The hospital can receive up to 100 patients but does not have enough doctors on staff, local TV station Digi24 reported.

“We can increase the number of available places for patients who tested positive and those who are waiting for the results of their tests, but we need support with the medical staff,” Andra Podgoreanu, the spokesperson of the Timişoara Military Hospital told Digi24.

The county of Timiş had 995 coronavirus cases on Sunday, July 26.

This past weekend, Făget, a town in Timis county, was the first city placed under quarantine under the new legislation. Also in Timis county, some 100 employees of the Freidorf slaughterhouse operated by Smithfield Romania have been infected with COVID-19 and the processing capacity suspended operations last week.

(Photo: mapn.ro)