National Institute of Infectious Diseases

Another patient who was in Pavilion V of the "Matei Bals" Institute during the fire on January 29 has died, the death toll reaching thus 18 in this case.

Criminal prosecutors and police finished the on-site investigation at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases Prof. Dr. Matei Bals on Friday, one week after the fire that broke out on January 29, and a technical expertise will be ordered in this case by INCD INSEMEX Petrosani, in order to establish the causes of the fire.

Two other cases of infection with the increased transmissibility SARS-CoV-2 variant were sequenced at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases "Matei Bals", informed the Ministry of Health, specifying that it recommended, on Friday, to the Bucharest City Emergency Management Committee (CMBSU) to postpone the decisions to relax the restrictions.

Japanese health officials have claimed the new variant of the coronavirus discovered in their country has similarities to that of the highly-contagious strains in the UK and South Africa. The new strain was detected on passengers who had disembarked from a plane that had arrived from Brazil.

A young man from Bucharest is the 82nd confirmed case of infection with the novel coronavirus, the Strategic Communication Group announced. The youngster, aged 20, came from the U.K. on 12 March. He has been admitted to the "Professor Matei Bals" National Institute of Infectious Diseases and tested positive on the same day, according to the quoted source.