Romania on Wednesday confirmed seven new cases of coronavirus, bringing the total to 38. Nobody has died from the killer virus, but authorities reported the first case of a patient, aged 56, who was transferred to intensive care for treatment.
The new cases included a 55-year-old from the capital, Bucharest who’s been hospitalized and a 31-year-old man who’s in self-isolation in the capital were diagnosed on Wednesday. A woman who came into contact with an ex-police chief who’s being investigated for hiding information about where he contracted the virus also tested positive as did a 53-year-old woman from the central county of Covasna who’d recently returned from Italy.
Authorities said that six patients have recovered. There are about 480 people in institutionalized quarantine and 11,600 people in self-isolation at home.
The latest figures came as President Klaus Iohannis said he hoped the crisis would be over “in a few weeks” and said authorities had come up with a plan to help businesses hurt by the outbreak.
Romania has now activated what to calls the second stage of the coronavirus outbreak, when between 26 and 100 people have the killer virus.
Border controls have been beefed up to check people arriving from stricken areas, which are designated red or yellow zones.
There are special areas in hospitals for patients and non-urgent surgery has been postponed for the treatment of COVID-19 cases.
Romania has a third scenario to be activated when there are 101 to 2,000 cases, while the worst-case scenario kicks off when more than 2,001 patients have COVID-19.
Health ministry official Nelu Tartaru said late Tuesday that people coming to Romania from Madrid and northern France will be placed in two weeks of institutionalized quarantine. He said authorities were considering suspending flights from the two areas.
People traveling from Italy are already subject to the same measures. Flights to and from Italy, where an estimated one million Romanians live, have been canceled.
