Romania registers 1,100 new Covid-19 cases as schools prepare to reopen after six months

Foto: INQUAM/Octav Ganea

Romania registered 1,100 new cases of coronavirus on Sunday and 36 patients with the virus died in the last 24 hours, authorities said.

The latest figures came as most schools in Romania prepared to reopen for the first time in six months, amid concerns that cases could spike in the coming weeks.

Schools were closed in March as a strict lockdown was imposed that lasted until mid-May and students took part in online classes.

Education Minister Monica Anisie said Sunday that while most schools in Romania would reopen, 263 facilities would continue online courses due to high level of Covid-19 cases in the area. Almost 5,000 schools will have a hybrid online-regular class format, she said.

Thirteen schools in the capital will exclusively hold online classes, with about 600 adopting the hybrid model. Bucharest reported 232 new Covid-19 cases in Sunday.

Ms Anisie said that nationwide there were 105 teachers who were hospitalized with SARS-CoV-2 and almost 300 teachers were in quarantine after they came in contact with people confirmed with the virus.

She said quarantined teachers would continue online teaching.

However, the vast majority of schools, more than 12,400 facilities nationwide, will reopen with Covid restrictions in place such as mandatory masks and physical distancing between desks.

In the last 24 hours, authorities carried out 4,784 tests, of which 7.5% of people tested positive, a figure similar to last Sunday. The rate of testing, and thereby cases, go down at the weekend.

On Sunday, there were 465 Covid-19 cases being treated in intensive care units, one of the lowest recent figures. The number of intensive care patients has remained below 500 since Sept. 3.  

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