The head of Romania’s emergency services on Friday said that soaring number of Covid-19 cases and record deaths were fueled by low vaccination rates.
Romania has seen a spike in cases in recent weeks, with around 15,000 new cases a day. Hundreds of deaths have been reported every day.
There have been 1,699 Covid-19 related deaths since Monday. A 13-year-old girl with no underlying health issues was among the people who died on Friday.
Romania on Friday confirmed 15,828 new cases in the past 24 hours and 363 deaths.
Intensive care units are struggling to cope with rising numbers of seriously sick patients. On Friday there were more than 1,700 patients in ICU beds.
“We are where we are because people haven’t listened to specialists, but rather to people who don’t get it” a frustrated Raed Arafat, head of the emergency services said.
“Seventy percent of Romanians thought that medics are tricking them,” he added.
„If we are where we are it’s because most people have refused to get (Covid) shots.”
“We had vaccine centers which could do 100,000 jabs a day, and they were administering 3,000 shots.”
He said there had been plenty of vaccines but Romania had donated or sold them due to the low uptake.
„The most important measure is in everyone’s hands: Go and get a vaccine!”
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