Romania, a European Union country of about 19 million, faced
its deadliest period of the pandemic through October and November and has so
far confirmed three cases of omicron, which is thought to be more contagious
than the previous coronavirus variant.
All three of Romania’s omicron cases have been detected in
people connected with a government repatriation flight from South Africa to
Bucharest at the end of November. Several others who returned on that flight
have since tested positive for COVID-19, and sequencing is being carried out,
the health ministry said.
The new travel rules will be enforced from Friday until Jan. 8 and aim to curb transmission over the winter holiday period. They include proof of a negative COVID-19 test, quarantine for unvaccinated travelers — and depend on the epidemiological risk of the country they arrive from. From Dec. 20, passenger location forms will also be implemented to improve the traceability of infections.
But while the authorities hope the new travel measures will prevent a spike in infections, and curb the spread of omicron as many return home over the winter holidays, some internal restrictions have been eased.
Places such as shops, cafes, malls, and restaurants can now
stay open until 10 p.m., an hour later, and people can enter without a “green
certificate” but with proof of a negative COVID-19 test. Masks are no longer
required in uncrowded open public places, and on key winter holidays — such as
Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve — closing times for businesses are effectively
scrapped.
Health minister Alexandru Rafila said after a government
meeting this week that the authorities must give people hope that they can
“live normally in this country” but that if infection rates rise above certain
thresholds, measures will be reversed.
“This openness on the part of the government is due to the
interest for life to return to normal in Romania,” Rafila said, but warned that
the authorities “cannot ignore the dangers that follow.”
Dragos Zaharia, a primary care doctor at Bucharest’s Marius
Nasta Institute of Pneumology who was on the front line during a bleak period
in October and November when Romania had one of the highest coronavirus
mortality rates in the world, says the relaxation measures are necessary but
also “a risky game.”
“We are expecting a fifth wave. I am worried that things
could get out of control again,” Zaharia told The Associated Press. “This
equilibrium between restrictions and freedom is quite hard to achieve. But
without relaxations, the population could become less compliant to future
measures.”
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