Romania’s health minister warned Friday that authorities may extend a state of alert this month, amid a spike in Covid-19 cases.
The government later published its daily report showing 420 new coronavirus cases in the last day, pushing the total to over 28,000.
Friday’s figure is the second day in a row when there have been more than 400 cases, and a drop from the previous day when 450 new cases were reported.
Romania tested 12,371 people in the last 24 hours for the virus, meaning that 3.4% of those tested came out positive.
Meanwhile, 21 patients died after contracting the virus in the past 24 hours and the death toll rose to 1,708.
There are 224 patients who are sick with the virus who are currently being treated in intensive care units, a decrease since Thursday.
Health Minister Nelu Tataru said Friday that the state of alert would be extended after July 15 if necessary due to the spike.
He said the coronavirus transmission rate increased from around 0.6-0.7 to 1.4 in three weeks.
Romania has registered a total of 28,166 cases of Covid-19 since the pandemic began and some 20,432 patients have recovered.
Tataru urged Romanians to respect preventive measures such as wearing face masks in enclosed public spaces and physical distancing. Compliance is patchy as people tire of restrictions.
A total of 741 people are in institutionalized quarantine, while almost 59,000 are isolating at home under medical supervision.
Some 747,600 tests have been processed since the pandemic began.
