Romania‘s health minister Alexandru Rafila announced on Friday that the country is already in the fifth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic as the Omicron variant has begun spreading through community transmission, according to Romania-Insider.
“We’re already in the fifth wave of the pandemic. (…) From December 20 to January 5, there has been a growing trend in the number of cases,” said Rafila.
„The positivity rate rose from less than 2% to more than 6% on Wednesday. We are on an upward trend,” added Rafila.
Romania’s health minister stated that almost a fifth of the cases were in the Bucharest-Ilfov region and at the same time Cluj, Timis and Iasi are the most affected counties.
“We’re now seeing community transmission in Romania. For the time being, it is sporadic, but in the coming days we may see a sustained community transmission with this new strain,” said Rafila.
The Romanian Government approved on Thursday the requirement concerning the wearing of surgical or FFP2 masks. Mask-wearing remains mandatory in all public venues, indoor or outdoor.
Textile (cloth) face masks are no longer allowed with the exception of children under the age of five. The measure will be enforced from Saturday.