Delta expected to become the dominant COVID-19 strain in Romania, health minister says

The more infectious Delta COVID-19 strain is expected to become dominant in Romania as well, health minister Ioana Mihaila said on Tuesday evening, June 29. Thus, the hospitals need to be prepared for an increased number of coronavirus cases.

“As has happened in other countries where the Delta strain has become dominant, we also expect it to become the dominant strain. The problem with the Delta strain is that it is more contagious,” Mihaila said, according to News.ro.

She said she had asked Public Health Departments (DSP) to come up with an action plan aimed at gradually increasing the number of beds in hospitals ”to be prepared for a resurgence of COVID cases.”

Raed Arafat, the head of the Emergency Situations Department (DSU), said on Tuesday that the epidemiological situation in Romania is very good at the moment. However, he stressed that vaccination is the best solution as the Delta and Delta Plus COVID-19 variants are spreading.

“The fact that we are well now does not guarantee that we will also be well after a while, and the minister (e.n. of health) told you that the Delta variant and the Delta Plus variant are starting to spread and be a problem, and vaccination remains the solution,” Arafat said, according to Agerpres.

“At this moment, the epidemiological situation in Romania is very good. All the measures taken in Romania, including that we have vaccinated over 20%, we are about 4.5 million vaccinated, played a role in the current situation. Of course, there is still work to be done, there may be different situations, but at this moment, with all the measures taken, Romania is one of the best-placed countries in terms of daily number of cases, hospitalized patients and deaths,” he added.

The DSU head also said that it is complicated to say what the epidemiological situation will look like in the fall, as it depends on the variants of the new coronavirus and how many people are vaccinated.

According to the official report, slightly over 4.71 million people received a COVID-19 vaccine in Romania by June 29, and most of them (4.51 million) are fully vaccinated. However, only 20,564 people received a vaccine in 24 hours, and only 9,544 of them got their first dose.