Radio România Internațional

Tag: 4th wave

  • When will restrictions be lifted?

    When will restrictions be lifted?

    After several European countries such as the United Kingdom, Denmark, Sweden, France, Spain and Italy have progressively diminished restrictions, the Romanian authorities are also considering the possibility of gradually relaxing the anti-COVID measures. Experts say that there is a declining trend in both the number of infections and the occupancy rate of hospital beds, but still the number of patients in ICUs remains the same. According to the head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, Romania could get rid of restrictions before Easter, at the end of April.



    Raed Arafat: “We have the clear intention to follow the examples of other countries, which have reached the peak of this wave before us. So, the measures that Romania will implement will be very similar, from what I can tell you now, to those implemented by other countries in this regard. The only difference between us and them is the rate of vaccination. The tendency to take measures in the future or to give up measures will be very similar to what other countries have done, and we can already see the results of these measures in those countries.



    In turn, the health minister, Alexandru Rafila, believes that, in a few weeks time, Romania will reach a COVID-19 incidence rate of one case per thousand, at which point the relaxation of restrictions could start gradually. And he recalls the measures related to wearing a protective mask and the Green Certificate.



    Alexandru Rafila: “Restrictions need to be lifted gradually, and people need to understand that they still have a responsibility towards their fellows. We do not rule out the emergence of new variants that may affect certain communities or certain vulnerable groups. I hope this is the last wave that posed major problems. In the next 3-4 weeks, we will reach a number of cases similar to that reported in mid-December, and then, of course, we can discuss a reassessment of public health measures and even the lifting of some restrictions, such as this digital certificate.



    Alexandru Rafila reminded, however, the importance of vaccination, especially in the case of vulnerable people. The coordinator of the vaccination campaign, Valeriu Gheorghiţă, announced that over 8 million people had at least one vaccine dose, which means a percentage of vaccination in the adult population of more than 50% and in the general population of 42%, which still is a small percentage compared to most European countries. However, he expressed optimism about the evolution of the virus and said that in the future, vaccination against this virus will be seasonal, like the vaccination for flu, and the vaccine will be adapted to the strain of that period. (LS)

  • The state of alert has been extended

    The state of alert has been extended

    Romania will remain in a state of alert. On Thursday the government approved the extension of the state of alert by another 30 days starting on August 11, with the current restrictions being maintained. We recall that, since May 15 last year, after two months of state of emergency, Romania has been in a state of alert, which has been extended successively up to the present moment.



    On the other hand, Bucharest has updated the list of countries with an epidemiological risk. Thus, as of Sunday, France enters the red list, alongside Greece, Spain, Great Britain, Ireland and Portugal. Unvaccinated people arriving in Romania from these countries will be quarantined for 14 days. Exempted from the rule are children under 3 and also children between 3 and 16 years old, if they provide a negative Covid test.



    Turkey has been added to the yellow list which also includes Belgium and Israel. Italy and Germany remain in the green zone. Instead, the UK has included Romania on the green list of countries with an epidemiological risk, which means that, starting on Sunday, Romanians traveling to Great Britain will no longer have to be quarantined, regardless of whether they are vaccinated or not. Nevertheless, Romanian citizens arriving in the UK must present a negative PCR test performed ahead of their entering the British territory and take a second test two days after arrival.



    All these against the backdrop of an increasing number of new cases of infection in Romania! In the past days, the daily number of infections has exceeded 200. Around 500 Covid patients are hospitalized, of whom around 70 are in intensive care, a situation comparable with that reported at the end of June. Fortunately, the number of deaths caused by the novel coronavirus remains low. While waiting for the 4th pandemic wave, which might occur in September according to specialists, the authorities are calling on the population to get vaccinated, as vaccination is the safest way to avoid a serious form of the disease.



    The manager of the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Timişoara (west), Cristian Oancea, told Radio Romania that he expected the pressure on the healthcare system to no longer be that high — as during the 2nd wave when medical units had a hard time coping with the number of Covid cases. However, Romanians are still reticent about vaccination in comparison with other Europeans. The number of fully vaccinated people has exceeded 4.9 million. At least for the time being, the authorities say they are counting on raising people’s awareness of the importance of vaccination, and not on imposing restrictive measures that could lead to discrimination. (LS)