Romania has reported the highest number of Covid-19 deaths across the European Union for its population size in the past fortnight, an EU agency said.
Figures released by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control on Wednesday relating to coronavirus infections and deaths from July 15 to July 29 in the bloc came as Romania’s government said it was planning new restrictions to slow the spread of the virus.
Romania recorded more than 1,000 cases for the eighth consecutive day on Wednesday, with 1,182 new infections in the past 24 hours.
The government is planning to make face masks compulsory in crowded outdoor places and has already quarantined small towns and villages where there are Covid-19 outbreaks.
The governmental Strategic Communication Group said 30 patients had succumbed to the virus in the past day.
Three of the fatalities were patients in their 40s and five were in their 50s, and most deaths were. All the people who died had underlying health conditions, such as cancer diabetes and obesity.
The ECDPH said Romania had 1.6 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days. more than any other EU country.
Sweden was second with 1.5 deaths per 100,000 people and Britain had 1.4 deaths for the same number of people.
Some 377 patients are currently being treated in intensive care, 20 more than Tuesday. Almost 7,000 Covid-19 patients are hospitalized.
Romania carried out 22,529 tests in the past day, of which more than one-third was on request. Some 5.25% of tests came up positive, slightly lower percentage than Tuesday.
The latest area to introduce new restrictions was Dambovita, a county in southern Romania. It will be compulsory for people to wear masks outdoors in markets, fairs and other crowded places and vendors will have to wear gloves in the county which has seen a spike in Covid-19 cases following a number of outbreaks.
Dambovita prefect Aurelian Popa told Digi24 that the county was “a red zone, with a high number of contaminated people.”
The county has recorded 1,766 cases since the pandemic spread to Romania, of which 84 were in the past day, one of the highest figures for a single county.
Some 26,446 patients have recovered from the virus in Romania.
Authorities have carried out 1.15 million tests.
