HealthMin Tataru: It is necessary to extend state of alert

Health Minister Nelu Tataru said on Tuesday that the state of alert should be extended and he prepared an assessment and a proposal in this regard for the prime minister and president, adding that from July 15 restrictions will not be imposed, but there will be no relaxation measures either.

"It is necessary to extend the state of alert. We also have an evaluation made with which we will go (...) to Prime Minister Ludovic Orban and to the President," Tataru said in Parliament.

Asked if new restrictions will be imposed from July 15, Tataru said: "Let's not talk about restrictions, but let's not think about relaxations either."

The health minister came to Parliament to participate in the debates of the Senate's Legal Committee on the draft law on quarantine and isolation.

"This is the first time I have been invited, I come whenever needed, I responded promptly. Public health is more important than political pride. I come to clarify some issues and I hope that at the end of these discussions we will have a law," said Tataru.

He added that at the moment, "there are some levers that are missing" in the fight against the novel coronavirus, mentioning in this regard: hospitalization, isolation and secondment of medical staff.

"It is not a political moment, it is a medical moment. It is a moment in which we have to manage the life of Romanians, the health of Romanians, the lives of patients and medical staff. Lately there have been multiple outbreaks in hospitals, just a relaxation in everything that means population, the presence of patients who have not been previously evaluated," Tataru said, adding that he will take additional measures in the outbreak areas "to the extent to which there will be legislative levers."

Asked about the provisions regarding the isolation at home of asymptomatic persons infected with COVID-19, Tataru replied: "I see a discharge of an asymptomatic patient after a 3-day evaluation in which we have additional radiological, biological investigations and an examination that show that the symptoms did not appear in this interval or the symptoms that were mild disappeared. Three days of asymptomatic state is a recommendation to be discharged, assuming that the patient respects that isolation at home, as well as supervision by the Public Health Directorate and family doctor."

He said he hoped to reach a consensus on the provision that any patient who is hospitalized by an administrative act could benefit from the measure in which he/she can sanction the measure in court.

The Senate's Judiciary Committee resumed debate on the quarantine and isolation bill on Tuesday, but after about an hour, the committee's senators adjourned the meeting in order to take note of the new amendments proposed to the bill.