Romania’s health minister says the more infectious Delta Covid-19 variant will become dominant in Romania.
Surge
Health Minister Ioana Mihaila said that authorities would take measures to add hospital beds in the case of a surge in infections.
“As in other countries where the Delta strain has become dominant, we also expect it to become the dominant variant. The problem with the Delta strain is that it is more contagious,” she said on Tuesday evening, News.ro reported.
„We do not track all the cases, only selected ones. We track cases which could be a variant of concern. We have found cases of the Delta strain, but we must ask (public health authorities) if it correlates with the increase in the number of deaths, “ the minister said.
Delta strain
Romanian authorities have officially announced just one death of a Covid patient who was infected with the Delta strain.
The Delta variant is now prevalent in the UK where hundreds of thousands of Romanians live.
Britain reported almost 29,000 positive cases on June 28, the highest number since late January.
Transmissable
U.S. officials say the more dangerous and more transmissible Delta variant as spread to nearly every state in the U.S.. This has fed health experts’ concern over potential Covid-19 spikes in the fall.
The variant was first identified in India and is now considered a variant of concern by the U.S and elsewhere, meaning scientists believe it can spread more easily or cause more severe disease.
Vaccine
Coronavirus cases have leveled off this month in Romania. Romania reported 73 cases on Tuesday and six deaths.
The last time there were more than 100 cases was June 16.
About one-quarter of Romanians have received a Covid vaccine so far.
A total of 4.71 million had had a jab by June 29. Of those, 4.51 million are now fully vaccinated.
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