Romania under state of alert for first time ever

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said Thursday night that it was for the first time in Romania's history when a state of alert is declared, adding that all decisions would be taken at the meetings of the National Committee for Emergency Situations (CNSU), which is in charge with establishing the necessary rules and restrictions to enable an effective combat against the risk of the novel coronavirus spreading.

"I think it is for the first time in history when the state of alert is declared in Romania. As such, we will face a new situation and we will have to behave responsibly with the establishment of the state of alert, to apply all necessary measures so that we can achieve our goal of containing the virus and securing transition to the normalcy we expect. With the state of alert in place, we will have to make all the decisions tonight to establish rules, to impose the necessary restrictions, and to allow the authorities to effectively fight against the risk of the virus spreading," Orban said at the beginning of a CNSU meeting.

The prime minister thanked the Romanians for the way they reacted during the state of emergency.

On the other hand, he explained that maintaining the positive trend during the alert period also depends on how people will follow the rules.

"The indispensable condition for maintaining this positive trend during the state of alert as well lies in maintaining this correct attitude, this responsible attitude on the part of our fellow citizens. We, the authorities, have the obligation to implement all the measures effectively, to take all measures to minimize the risk of the virus spreading, but the result going forward depends, to a large extent, on the extent to which Romanians will maintain the correct attitude they had had throughout the emergency period," Orban said.