UPDATE. Two people test positive for coronavirus in Romania, bringing the total to six

Foto: INQUAM/Octav Ganea

Romania confirmed two new cases of coronavirus on Wednesday, a 16-year-old boy from the southwest city of Timisoara who caught it from his father and a 71-year-old man who had returned from Lombardy, in Italy, which is Europe’s worst-hit region.

The infected teen is the son of a 47-year-old man who was diagnosed on Tuesday. The man traveled on the same plane as a Romanian woman who had already tested positive.

Officials said the two sat next to each other when they returned to Romania from Italy on February 20. Initial tests carried out when he was first quarantined came back negative. But tests performed Monday showed he was infected with COVID-19.

Spokesman for the Victor Babes Infectious Diseases Hospital in Timişoara, Virgul Musta confirmed the diagnosis Wednesday and said the boy would be hospitalized.

His father has already been transferred to the Victor Babes hospital.

A man who returned from Italy on February 28 and was in voluntary quarantine also tested positive on Wednesday, the government Strategic Communication Group said.

The man went to hospital in the northern city of Suceava on Monday complaining of a high temperature and chills. He was hospitalized and tested positive for the virus.

Health officials on Friday said two people tested positive for coronavirus including a 38-year-old woman who passed on the virus to the man in Timisoara.

Romania’s first case was a 25-year-old man who had been in direct contact with an Italian citizen who traveled to Romania earlier this month. He has been discharged from hospital.

There are about one million Romanians living in Italy.

Public health officials said there was no need for Timisoara to be placed in lockdown.

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