RO health expert warns number of coronavirus cases will not drop if rules are not followed

If the coronavirus prevention measures are not followed, the country will not see the number of cases go down, Alexandru Rafila, Romania’s representative to the World Health Organization (WHO), told local television station Digi24.

Over the past eight weeks, the country has gone from 120-130 daily cases to up to 1,300, and from 1.5% to 14% positive tests of the total number of tests carried out – a high number, he explained.

“Eight weeks of growth are not few. The number of cases went up from 120-130 to 1,300, the percentage of positive cases from 1.5% to some 14% in today’s [July 27] report. We also have 353 people admitted to intensive care units. And we also have something that should work to our advantage, namely that we do not have the same evolution at a national level; the cases are concentrated in some counties and Bucharest; probably the logistical effort should be focused on these areas,” Rafila said.

He explained that everyone should make an effort to comprehend why the protection rules need to be followed: “these are not only related to the individual protection but to the community protection, the functioning of the economy because everything is connected; these are not separate things.”

He also called for better communication of the prevention measures.

“We should not repeat those measures obsessively because, at some point, they become tiring. […] We can try and explain, bit by bit. It’s better to have a partnership between people and the authorities,” he said.

He also argued in favor of placing some localities under quarantine but said messages about these measures should be tailored so that people understand that it is for their benefit.

“People should understand that it is about protecting their community, not about something else, not about limiting some rights […],” he said.

Romania reported another 1,104 Covid-19 cases on July 27, bringing the total to 45,902.

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