Romanian healthcare officials expect a surge in Covid-19 cases with up to 25,000 cases a day by February.
The new omicron variant will become dominant in Romania by mid-January, Adriana Pistol who heads the Center for Disease Supervision and Control said Wednesday.
“The most pessimistic outlook is 25,000 cases a day public health authorities say,” she said.
She warned the healthcare system would be stretched by a rise in cases and hospitalizations „at least at the level of October 2021,” the deadliest month for the pandemic.
Some 44,595 people died in October, the highest number of deaths for a single month in peacetime.
She urged Romanians to get a vaccine for prevention.
„The omicron variant affects young people too. Get a vaccine so you don’t get a severe form of the virus.”
Health Minister Alexandru Rafila said that 38 people were confirmed to have the omicron variant, including a one-year-old baby.
Romania reported 1,271 new cases on Wednesday, the highest single-day figure since December 8. There were 33 deaths.
Officials said there is now community transmission of the more contagious omicron variant, as some of the new cases are people who haven’t traveled to areas where omicron is the dominant strain.
Octavian Jurma, a medic specialized in neuroscience, said that omicron would become dominant as early as the end of the week., Cases are expected to rise after New Year’s Eve celebrations and when schools re-open.
Egri Eduard, a family GP in the central city of Sibiu, predicted „chaos.”
”It’s with us and in a few weeks we won’t even know our own names… We’re not prepared. We aren’t capable of taking the (necessary) measures.”
Covid-19 pandemic cut life expectancy by 1.4 years in Romania
