The health crisis in Romania has taken a dramatic turn. Romania’s vaccination campaign coordinator Valeriu Gheorghiţă says Romania is already in the same scenario as Italy was last year, writes Cristian Gherasim, correspondent in Bucharest.
In the spring of 2020, at the start of the COVID pandemic in Europe, Italy was the most affected country. The number of infections grew rapidly and hospitals were overwhelmed.
Another senior Romanian official in charge of the COVID pandemic – the head of the country’s emergency unit – said a comparison between the current situation in Romania and that of the Italian region of Lombardy is not exaggerated and admits the situation is very serious.
After a botched communication campaign, all officials are calling for vaccination, saying it is the only way to overcome the 4th wave of the pandemic, which has become so virulent because the Delta variant spreads much more easily.
Hospitals and intensive care units across the country are inundated with media constantly reporting that no intensive care beds are available. The situation is such that intensive care beds usually only become available after a patient dies.
The European Union has so far sent 250+ oxygen concentrators and 5,000 bottles of monoclonal antibodies to Romania, as aid from the EU’s strategic reserve, for the treatment of critically ill COVID patients . More than 20 ventilators and oxygen concentrators have arrived in the country, according to a statement from the European Commission. The European Commissioner for Crisis Management said the aid is also a form of reciprocity to Romania’s efforts to provide assistance to other EU countries during the pandemic.
“Since the start of the pandemic, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism has coordinated and co-financed the delivery of more than 190 million personal and medical protective equipment, reinforced hospitals with additional medical staff and delivered vaccines and other essential equipment for more than 55 people. countries. In addition, the EU has created a strategic medical reserve and distribution mechanism rescEU under the aegis of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. The reserve allows the rapid delivery of medical equipment hosted by Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden and the Netherlands ”, the EC press release said.
Thought less bad than Romania, the region of Eastern Europe is by far the most affected in Europe. Eastern Europe (Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina) is red, showing a spike in COVID cases. These countries have a high number of deaths relative to their population. Thus, Romania has the highest average, 16.6. This is the highest average in Europe, but unfortunately, according to the latest data, it is also the highest average in the world.
Romania is followed, in Europe, by Bulgaria, with an average of 12.37 deaths, according to Our world in data. Lithuania is also experiencing a rather difficult situation, with an average of 10.14 deaths, given that the incidence of COVID-19 is high in this country.
On the other hand, in Western Europe, France, Italy, Great Britain and Portugal have curbed the pandemic with a very low death rate. In the UK, it is below 2, although the number of cases is on par with the previous wave of the pandemic. The death toll in the UK where the population is largely vaccinated is now 20 times lower.
