Coronavirus in Romania: Health minister says Suceava is hotspot out of control
Suceava, a city in northeastern Romania, is a coronavirus hotspot that is out of control, health minister Nelu Tătaru said on Sunday, April 5, News.ro reported.
He made the statement during a visit in Constanţa county. The minister said he plans to visit all counties with more than 100 Covid-19 cases because he does not want a repeat of the Suceava situation.
“Constanţa is a potential hotbed because I do not want a repeat of what happened in Suceava. Suceava is a hotbed out of control, for which we are trying a military solution at this point. In Constanţa, there has been a high influx of citizens from abroad, an influx that could derail at a certain point or interfere with the things that are done well in sanitary units. It could turn into a hotbed if we don’t pay attention to the isolation, quarantine and tracing measures. […] We need to pay a lot of attention to isolation and social distancing, just as we need to take great care of the health workers,” Tătaru said.
Out of the 681 new Covid-19 cases reported from Friday to Sunday, 349 were recorded in Suceava county. The County Hospital in Suceava has become the biggest Covid-19 hotspot in Romania after several patients brought the virus to the hospital and infected dozens of doctors and nurses. The hospital had last week the highest number of infected doctors and nurses in Romania – about 200 and the highest number of deaths due to Covid-19.
A military doctor was brought in to manage the County Hospital in Suceava after the new management resigned on Wednesday evening, April 1.
Suceava and eight surrounding communes are under quarantine.
Tătaru also said that the specialists of the Health Ministry are analyzing the option of treating easy, mild and asymptomatic coronavirus cases at home, “going through a buffer point”, when the Covid-19 support hospitals reach half of their capacity, News.ro reported.
