HealthMin: We estimate an increase of COVID-19 infection rate in Romania

The Minister of Health, Ioana Mihaila, declared on Tuesday that the infection rate with the novel coronavirus is estimated to rise in Romania as well and highlighted that if a sufficient vaccination coverage would exist, there would be no patients with severe forms. "We cannot have an exact date when the fourth wave will appear or if the peak will be reached, but looking at what happened in other countries - for example in the United Kingdom there are approximately 45,000 new infections per day - given that the infection incidence with the Delta strain is rising in our country, yes, we estimate an increase of infection rates in Romania, too," Mihaila said in Parliament, after taking part in a coalition's reunion. She highlighted the importance of an ample vaccination coverage. "At this moment we are expecting the recommendations of the ECDC (European Center for Disease Control) European Society regarding the inoculation of the third dose, but what we know for certain is that vaccinating with the full dose, two doses of Pfizer or Moderna or one dose of Johnson&Johnson ensures protection against severe cases and against the mortality risk. AstraZeneca too (...) If we have an ample vaccination coverage, even if we have a lot of cases of new infections, these patients will not have severe forms and will not die from infection. (...) An adequate coverage means that vaccination rate which allows us to have very few infections and very few casualties," the Minister of Health explained. Ioana Mihaila said that she took part in the coalition's sitting with the purpose of discussing new possible reaction measures in front of the risk of the fourth wave of the pandemic.AGERPRES(RO - author: Florentina Peia, editor: Florin Marin; EN - author: Catalin Cristian Trandafir, editor: Maria Voican)