RO health authorities warn of rising number of Covid-19 cases

The number of Covid-19 cases is on the rise, and there are no reasons to believe things will “quiet down,” Valeriu Gheorghiță, the coordinator of the national vaccination campaign, told television station Digi24. More than 89% of the sequencing tests carried out last week showed infections with the Delta variant, he explained.

“Unfortunately, we are seeing an increase in the number of cases these weeks, and the outlook is not a good one, especially that the Delta variant tends to become dominant on Romania’s territory. In the week of July 26 – August 1, out of the total number of sequencing tests carried out, more than 89% turned out positive for the Delta variant,” Gheorghiță said.

Getting vaccinated is the best protection against the coronavirus, he explained, while warning that a low vaccination coverage impacts everyone.

“If the vaccination pace and intention do not change, of course, we will all pay for this pretty low vaccination coverage. Because, regardless of whether we speak of a collective immunity of 45-50% through illness and vaccination, it is not enough to reduce the consequences of the Delta variant cases significantly,” he explained.

According to the weekly report of the National Public Health Institute (INSP), quoted by Agerpres, 81.5% of the Covid-19 cases confirmed between July 26 and August 1 were among unvaccinated people.

Furthermore, 85.7% of the deaths were among unvaccinated individuals and 14.3% among people not fully vaccinated. Of the total deaths, 86% were among people over 60, while 94.6% of those who passed away had at least one prior medical condition. A total of 71.4% of the deaths were recorded in the counties of Neamţ, Bacău, Călăraşi, Satu Mare and Botoşani, according to the same report, while 50.3% of the total Covid-19 cases were reported in the Bucharest and the counties of Constanţa, Cluj, Ilfov, and Timiş.

Romania reported 271 Covid-19 cases on August 4, up from 233 cases the day before and the second day with more than 200 cases since early June. The number of those who received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine reached 5,035,792 by August 4, with 4,890,283 fully vaccinated.

(Photo: Anya Ivanova/ Dreamstime)