Life in a quarantined Romanian city: Video showing Suceava in the first day of Covid-19 lockdown goes viral

Suceava, a city with over 100,000 inhabitants in northeastern Romania, was closed down on Tuesday, March 31, due to the high number of Covid-19 infection cases recorded here.

Local photographer Radu Baran has created and uploaded on Facebook a video with aerial views from various parts of the city during the first day of quarantine.

“Suceava was a lively city, full of life, with its streets full! Now we are quarantined! Let's all be in the front line and give Suceva life again!” he wrote, urging people in the city to stay home.

Live images from Suceava, available on SuceavaNews webcams, also show very low movement in parts of the city that are usually very crowded. Car traffic, which is sometimes as congested as in Bucharest, is also very light.

Suceava and eight surrounding localities, with a total registered population of over 160,000 people, were placed under quarantine, starting March 31, through a military ordinance issued by the Interior Ministry. During the lockdown, the population in the quarantined area is not allowed to leave and transport to and from the area is restricted. Only freight transport is allowed (raw materials for economic activities and supplier for the population).

People that run economic activities in the quarantined area, emergency and security personnel, and people that provide utilities and other services can still enter or leave the city.

Within the quarantined area, people must follow the same movement restrictions that apply throughout the country. Thus, they are only allowed to leave their homes only for work, shopping, to get medical care, and to take care of elderly people or children.

Suceava has recorded 638 cases of Covid-19 infection confirmed by tests, which represent more than a quarter of the total cases recorded in Romania (2,245, as of March 31). Moreover, the city has also recorded the highest number of deaths – 31, namely over a third of the coronavirus-related deaths reported so far in Romania (85), according to official data obtained by Hotnews.ro.

(Photo source: print-screen from Suceava News Webcam)