Only six intensive care places were available in Romania on Sunday, April 11, prime minister Florin Cîţu announced after a meeting of the national committee CNCCI on the situation of the pandemic.

The announcement came as 1,531 Covid-19 patients were admitted to intensive care units in the country on April 11, the highest number reported since the start of the pandemic.

The PM said the target of having 1,600 ICU beds, set a while ago, should be reached because they are urgently needed.

"I wanted to see what happened to that target of having 1,600 ICU beds. It hasn't been reached yet, but I warned then as well, and unfortunately, those beds were needed. Today there are 1,531 people admitted to intensive care units and only six available places at a national level. We need to reach this target of 1,600 beds; they are needed now," Cîţu said.

Late on April 9, the Foisor Orthopedic Hospital in Bucharest was evacuated to make room for Covid-19 patients. The decision came as no intensive care beds were available in the city, and after many patients were sent to other hospitals in the country. The hospital has 21 intensive care beds and another 200 beds where patients can be provided with oxygen. The hospital's patients were moved to other medical units after an evacuation that brought criticism from the Social Democrat opposition and tensions within the ruling coalition.

On April 10, Romania reported 4,310 Covid-19 infections, pushing the total number of cases since the start of the pandemic past the 1 million threshold. Out of the 1,006,167 cases reported since the start of the pandemic, 906,659 patients have recovered, the authorities announced in the report issued on April 11. The death toll reached 25,135 on April 11, while 13,500 coronavirus patients were admitted to hospitals in the country.

Cîţu said it was important to step up the vaccination campaign and announced more vaccination centers would open this week.

"Another 171 vaccination centers will open, and after April 15, we will be able to vaccinate 100,000 people daily. It is the only solution to overcoming the pandemic, besides being the only solution to reopening the economy," he said.

The number of reported daily cases dropped below 6,000 over the past week, but some doctors have warned many cases went unreported. Beatrice Mahler, the manager of the Marius Nasta Institute, one of the main Bucharest hospitals treating Covid-19 hospitals, told Digi24 she believed the number of daily cases was four times more than the reported one.

(Photo: Octav Ganea/ Inquam Photos)

simona@romania-insider.com