RO health minister expects manageable increase in coronavirus cases

Romania could see an increase in the number of coronavirus cases in the coming period, health minister Nelu Tătaru told local television station Antena 3.

The authorities expect the increase to be manageable as long as social distancing measures are observed, he explained.

“As long as social distancing precautions are observed, we will have a progressive but manageable increase. If the situation evolves favorably over the next two weeks, we are thinking about easing other restrictions after July 1. […] We are approaching this progressively to assess the community transmission, which shows us the evolution of the easing of the restrictions,” Tătaru said, quoted by News.ro.

Romania currently has a low community transmission of the virus, compared to other European states, he said. He warned that the community transmission could intensify if the easing of the restrictions is not managed well.

The health minister also explained that there are 99 centers processing coronavirus tests, with a capacity of 15,500 tests per day. Of these, five centers are working at full capacity.

In his turn, Alexandru Rafila, Romania’s representative at the World Health Organization (WHO), argued that the country’s current number of coronavirus cases relative to the number of tests carried out is a high one.

“Five percent is a high one. We need to be concerned, not panicked. Parents should not be scared and stop sending their children to kindergartens; the elderly should not be scared,” Rafila told television station Digi24.

(Photo: Octav Ganea/ Inquam Photos)