Romania reported 767 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday, with most cases in the capital and the southern county of Arges which has become the country’s latest hotspot.
The Strategic Communication Group said Romania had a cumulative total of 37,458 cases.
There were 14,889 tests carried out in the past day with 5.15% of those confirmed to have the virus, the highest percentage since July 13.
Arges county which has seen a spike in the last two weeks reported 98 new cases on Sunday, while the capital Bucharest registered 100 cases.
Some 286 patients are being treated in intensive care units, the highest for a single day.
Some 25,042 patients have recovered, including 2,425 people who didn’t have symptoms but had tested positive for the virus.
Seventeen people died in the past 24 hours taking the death total to 2,026.
Health Minister Nelu Tataru said thousands of requests for tests from people going on holiday abroad had led to a backlog of tests, with 6,000 to 7,000 tests waiting to be carried out.
There are 133 laboratories nationwide that offer Covid-19 testing facilities.
Tataru said the only solution to extend testing capacity to 27,000 to 28,000 daily tests was for laboratories to work around the clock in three shifts.
The minister also suggested that if cases continued to rise, restrictions may be placed on outdoor restaurants such as early closing hours. He insisted that the government didn’t want to introduce more rules and appealed to people to respect current regulations.
Mask wearing is compulsory in enclosed public places and social distancing is also recommended, although it is sometimes disregarded.
