COVID-19 in Romania: A quarter of new tests return positive results, PM self-isolates after contact with infected person

Romania’s prime minister Ludovic Orban asked to be tested for COVID-19 and went into self-isolation after attending a TV show where the host was later confirmed as infected. Orban was interviewed by B1 TV host Silviu Manastire last week. Over the weekend, Manastire announced that he was infected. On Monday morning, the Government announced that the prime minister cleared his schedule and went into self-isolation after getting tested.

The new Bucharest mayor Nicusor Dan and several members of Orban’s cabinet will also get tested after coming into contact with the prime minister in recent days.

Meanwhile, the number of new infection cases in Romania continues to grow at an alarming rate. After the authorities announced a record of 2,343 new cases on Friday, the daily count went down to 2,064 on Saturday, 1,835 on Sunday, and 1,591 on Monday. However, this was due to fewer tests processed over the weekend. While on Friday only 9% of the 26,011 tests processed came positive, on Sunday, the share of positive tests grew to 13.3% (of 13,770), and on Monday it reached 24% (of 6,537 tests), Romania-Insider.com has calculated based on data released by the Strategic Communication Group.

Despite the lower count reported on Monday in Romania, Bucharest recorded a new daily record of 562 new cases, representing over a third of the total cases reported in the country. Iasi county was second, with 116 new cases.

On Monday, 8,000 infected people were hospitalized and 592 were treated in intensive care units (ATI) for severe forms of the disease. The total death count increased by 45 on Monday, to 5,048.

(Photo source: Gov.ro)