Authorities urge caution, responsibility as Romania sees record single-day jump in coronavirus cases

President Klaus Iohannis asked the Parliament to debate as a matter of urgency the law clarifying the conditions for quarantine and isolation. He made the request on July 8, the day Romania reported 555 new coronavirus cases, a record number for the country since the start of the pandemic.

The quarantine and isolation measures imposed by the Romanian Government through an order signed by the minister of health were temporarily suspended, following the decision of unconstitutionality pronounced by the Romanian Constitutional Court on June 26.

Separately, the Covid-19 patients with no symptoms can't be retained in hospitals, as an effect of the same ruling. As a result, most of the patients in this situation asked to be released home, where there is no legal instrument to keep them from spreading the epidemic.

President Iohannis argued it was time to leave political frictions aside and said the country needed a protection mechanism.

"I ask the Parliament to debate, as a matter of urgency, the law clarifying quarantine and isolation, to give back to the authorities and extremely important instrument during this pandemic. This is not the time to leave our defenses down. We fared relatively well so far. Let's continue! […] We are not talking about political games here but about a disease that, sadly, is still present. The virus knows no boundaries, no laws, no administrative approaches, but we have the most important protection instrument – our conscience," the president said, quoted by News.ro.

President Iohannis also urged people to take all precautions to prevent the spread of the virus, such as wearing a mask, social distancing, and frequent hand-washing. He criticized the politicians that are "trying to exploit this pandemic for electoral purposes."

When asked if the state of alert might be prolonged, the president said it was a discussion that was still ongoing.

He said that more restrictive measures could be reintroduced if the situation worsens but said this was not something he would like to see happening.

The president also said "we cannot just close the country and depart" and insisted Romanians need to take all the recommended Covid-19 precautions.

"First of all we risk getting sick, which is much worse than any state of emergency or any debate in Parliament. We are amid a pandemic. On the other hand, we cannot just close the country and depart. This is our country, our life; our economy is here. If we want to support the economy, and leave for the mountains and the seaside, we need to follow these norms. The role of the authorities is to issue the norms. The role of the hospitals is to treat the patients. But it is our role not to end up in the hospital because this is a dangerous disease," Iohannis said, quoted by