Romania adopted new measures on Wednesday July 29 to stem the outbreak of coronavirus cases, including the wearing of compulsory masks in certain outdoor spaces and reduced activity for bars and restaurants. Over the past eight days, more than 1,000 new cases of Covid-19 have been recorded daily in Romania, bringing the total number of contaminations to more than 48,000, for 2,269 officially recorded deaths.
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" We are in a critical period and measures to protect the population are very important at the moment, " President Klaus Iohannis said at a press conference. Wearing a mask was already compulsory in closed spaces, as bars and restaurants could only serve their customers on the terrace with a maximum of four people per table.
" The terraces will limit the number of customers to the number of chairs, " Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said at the start of a cabinet meeting. Local authorities will decide in which outdoor spaces the wearing of a mask will be compulsory, he explained, referring to markets and station platforms. Children over the age of five will also need to wear a mask, according to the government.
Several cities in quarantine
Last week, regional authorities quarantined several villages and a town, prohibiting entry and exit. " Things are bad, especially for the young people who have to go to work outside the village, " said Elena, 70, a resident of one of the villages under quarantine.
This outbreak of coronavirus cases seems to stem from the departure of thousands of infected people from Romanian hospitals since June, who had taken advantage of a legal vacuum preventing them from being hospitalized.
Parliament adopted a new text in July allowing hospitals to keep people positive for the disease under observation for at least 48 hours, even when they are asymptomatic. “ I am confident we will succeed together in properly controlling this pandemic. I consider the return to the state of emergency as the last option ”, underlined the Romanian president.