Fifteen teams of the emergency rescue service SMURD working in various counties were sent to support the Bucharest service in handling requests involving Covid-19 patients, radio station EuropaFM reported.

The teams will help SMURD Bucharest in transporting the doctors who test patients for Covid-19 and take patients to hospitals. They will also work on decontaminating the ambulances used to transport Covid-19 patients.

“For instance, yesterday [e.n. March 16] there were 100 decontaminations. […] So far, the maximum reached was 150 decontaminations per day. The trend is an increasing one,” Daniel Vasile, a spokesperson for the Bucharest-Ilfov Emergency Services Inspectorate (ISU), told EuropaFM.

For the past ten days, both the ambulance service and SMURD have received thousands of requests daily. In the area of Bucharest and Ilfov county, the number of Covid-19-related requests made to the Ambulance service almost doubled, exceeding 2,300, according to EuropaFM.

On March 17, Bucharest reported 20% of the daily coronavirus cases in the country: 1,245 from a total of 6,186 cases. The coronavirus incidence rate reached 4.49 per 1,000 inhabitants. 

Bucharest prefect Alin Stoica also told Europa FM that the Police would perform checks more often in crowded places to see that current rules are followed.

(Photo: Vlad Ispas | Dreamstime.com)

simona@romania-insider.com