Romanian hospitals have all but run out of beds to treat critically ill Covid-19 patients, authorities said.
On Monday, there were 1,632 Covid-19 patients in intensive care units around the country. The only unoccupied bed was in Hunedoara in southwest Romania.
Authorities have been scrambling to find new beds for critically ill patients as cases have soared in recent weeks.
On Monday, Bucharest reported 2,888 new coronavirus cases, and the infection rate rose to 14.2 per 1,000 inhabitants.
One doctor said they were despairing of the low numbers of vaccinated people.
“I’m looking at all the patients in ICU. Unvaccinated, the lot of them. They don’t believe in the vaccine. many don’t trust doctors. Their families are looking for ‘connections’. I wonder if they trust medics now. Wasn’t it easier to get a jab,” Lara Zarafin, an intensive care medic at the Colentina Hospital said, RO Vaccinare reported.
With no beds in some areas, hospitals have shipped patients to far-off cities. Last week, a dozen patients were flown from the capital to the northwest city of Targu Mures.
There were about 17,000 Covid-19 patients being treated in hospital on Monday, a new record which has pushed the overstretched and underfunded system to its limits.
