Romania reported another negative record of 3,186 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the second day in a row when in excess of 3,000 cases have been posted.
There were 52 Covid-19 related deaths in the past day, a jump from Thursday when 44 patients succumbed to the virus.
The Strategic Communication Group said Some 29,282 tests were carried out in the past 24 hours giving a ‘positivity rate’ of 10.88%, about the the same as the last three days.
Despite the recent spike, President Klaus Iohannis on Friday said he wouldn’t declare another state of emergency. The country was put into strict lockdown from March to mid-May.
However, the president advised people to wear masks when they leave home and said authorities were eyeing restrictions such as limiting the number of people at weddings and baptisms.
The Romanian capital where cases have soared in the past week saw another record high of 579 new cases on Friday.
Eight regions had more than 100 cases, with the northeastern county of Iasi posting 181 cases and Bacau, also in the east adding 179.
The infection rate for the past fortnight climbed to 2.28 in the capital and was above the critical 1.5 per 1,000 residents in seven other countries.
Romanian authorities have introduced new restrictions including closing restaurants with indoor seating, cinemas, casinos, betting shops and arcades in places where cases are in excess of 1.5 per 1,000 inhabitants.
Religious pilgrimages in Bucharest and the fervently religious city of Iasi which were scheduled later this month and next have also been canceled, as long as cases stay high.
Schools in areas where there are high numbers of cases have switched to a mixed system of online learning and physical school.
Some 24 men and 28 women infected with the virus died in the last 24 hours. Four were in their 40s, five in their 50s, 16 were in their 60s and 27 were older than 70.
All but one had underlying health conditions such as diabetes, cancer or obesity.
The cumulative total climbed to 148,886 on Friday, of which 114,792 patients have recovered.
There were 613 Covid-19 patients being treated in intensive care units on Friday, and about 8,800 SARS-CoV-2 patients in hospital.
Just under 13,000 who tested positive for the virus were self-isolating at hone, while about 8,500 were in institutionalized isolation.
