Update 3: The number of COVID-19 patients confirmed in Romania further increased on Wednesday evening, reaching 44 (at 20:40). More importantly, if all the cases reported so far have been traced to people coming to Romania from high-risk areas or people who were in contact with infected persons, patient 39, a 52-year old man from Constanta, said he didn't travel and was not in contact with any person that was later confirmed as infected. Thus, he may be the first case of "community spreading" of the virus, according to G4Media.ro.

The first more serious case of COVID-19 infection was also reported on Wednesday. Patient 36, a 56-year old man from Bucharest who travelled to Israel at the end of February, is the first patient placed under intensive care, G4Media.ro reported.

The updated number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Romania can be found here.

Update 2: Three more cases of coronavirus were confirmed on Wednesday afternoon, bringing the total number of infected patients to 35, local Digi24 reported. The three patients are from Bucharest (2) and Covasna (1).

Update: Another patient from Iasi tested positive for coronavirus on Wednesday, this being the third case confirmed on this day in Romania.

Two more people tested positive for COVID-19 in Romania on Wednesday morning, March 11, bringing the total number of confirmed coronavirus infection cases to 31. The two new confirmed patients are from Bucharest and Iasi, local News.ro reported.

Meanwhile, according to official data, six patients have been declared cured. Almost 480 people were placed under quarantine and over 11,600 are isolated at home.

According to the authorities’ strategy, Romania activated the second scenario of the coronavirus epidemic, which is enforced when the number of infected patients is in the 26-100 range. This includes broader controls at the border to check those arriving from outside the red or yellow areas; the establishment of special, dedicated sections in hospitals; extended investigations among contacts of those infected; the limitation of non-urgent surgery operations (in order to make available as much capacity as possible for possible COVID-19 patients), local Digi24 informed.

Romania has two other scenarios planned in case the number of confirmed cases goes up. The third scenario is activated when there are between 101 and 2,000 cases while the fourth (and worst case) scenario involves more than 2,001 patients infected with the new type of virus.

newsroom@romania-insider.com

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