RO health minister: High number of Covid-19 cases on January 26 was expected

The more than 34,000 Covid-19 cases reported in Romania on January 26 are “a worrying number,” in line with what is happening in other countries, health minister Alexandru Rafila said.

He explained that the authorities had estimated the situation, fueled by the Omicron variant.

“Today [e.n. January 26] we had the highest number of cases to date; we expected this number because the testing capacity was a bit reduced in the last days; today, there were close to 110,000 tests for the first time, and consequently, we had around 34,500 cases. Of course, the number is worrying, but it couldn’t be excluded from the scenarios that the Health Ministry and the Public Health Institute INSP presented,” Rafila said at a January 26 press conference.

The INSP report, presented by Hotnews.ro, estimated that the country could see on average between 7,300 and 35,000 cases between January 15 and January 31, and between 19,000 and 76,000 cases during the first two weeks of February.

The health minister also said he expected a further increase in the number of cases, although not immediately.

“From my point of view, there will be a further increase, but not in the coming days; it will probably happen next week, after another cycle. Tomorrow, the day after, we might see a similar situation or even fewer cases because we are after four-five days of reduced testing because we had these days off,” he said. Monday, January 24, was a legal holiday, adding to a long weekend.

On January 27, Romania reported 31,683 Covid-19 cases and 71 deaths, two of them recorded outside of the reporting interval.

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