Romania to extend state of emergency for another month

Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said on Monday that the state of emergency needs to be extended for another month, stressing this period is absolutely necessary for keeping the spread of the epidemic under control.

Iohannis made the statement at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace after an assessment meeting of the measures regarding the management of COVID-19 pandemic with Prime Minister Ludovic Orban and several related members of the government.

According to the head of state, he asked the government to come up with proposals so that the text of the decree will be drawn up this week, and he will issue a new decree next week to extend the state of emergency for another month.

The president stressed that the COVID-19 epidemic has not yet reached its peak in Romania, and that the country should not ease the measures taken so far.

“The development of the epidemic still depends on how we follow the instructions of the authorities…if we violate them, we might reach the scenarios as we have unfortunately seen in the countries I mentioned,” he warned, referring to the situations in Italy and Spain.

Romania’s confirmed COVID-19 cases stood at 4,057 as of Monday, with 162 deaths, the Strategic Communication Group, the government agency authorized to publish information on COVID-19, announced on the same day.

The eastern European country entered a state of emergency on March 16 after the number of COVID-19 cases exceeded 100. A nationwide lockdown was put in place on March 25.

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Source: Xinhua