HealthMin Rafila: Novel coronavirus positivity rate 8.5pct between March 28 and April 3

The novel coronavirus positivity rate accounted for 8.5pct between March 28 and April 3, Health Minister Alexandru Rafila told a press conference on Tuesday, Agerpres reports.

According to him, about 20pct of the intensive care beds allocated to patients infected with the novel coronavirus are currently occupied.

"A decreasing trend in the wards treating COVID patients. (...) A decreasing trend in ICU - 360 people. We have 20pct of the total number of ICU beds occupied by infected patients. This is a declining trend that is also confirmed by the replication rate, which is below one. (...) The positivity rate between March 28 - April 3 was 8.5pct (...), decreasing compared to the previous week," said Rafila.

He stated that the basal replication rate was 0.92 over the same period.

"This is not characteristic only for Romania, but it can be seen in the entire European region of the WHO and there are currently only a few countries in the region that have a replication rate of over 1," said the Minister of Health.