Health Minister Nelu Tataru said Monday that he will sign on Tuesday a ministerial order under which the asymptomatic COVID-19 patients in Romania will be isolated at home, but only after 10 days of hospitalisation.

Tataru told Realitatea Plus private broadcaster on Monday that symptoms can come up on the fifth day after the infection and therefore patients must be medically supervised in hospitals.

"At the proposal of the technical group of the Ministry of Health that deals with evaluations, on Tuesday I will sign a ministerial order under which the asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients will undergo a 10-day hospitalisation. On the seventh day a test is performed and if it is negative the patient in question will go home after 10 days. If still positive, but a mild asymptomatic person who has not had symptoms for at least three days will go home after ten days and stay in isolation for up to 14 days under the supervision of family physicians. The order will be signed on Tuesday to decongest the hospitals, but we cannot release an asymptomatic patient on the first day he or she shows up, because we do not know how that will develop. Let the specialists decide if a case is asymptomatic or not," said the health minister.

He added that the release of a positive patient in the community is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health and also of the patient, given that there is heightened community transmission of COVID-19 in Romania now. AGERPRES (RO - Gabriel Apetrii, editor: Antonia Nita; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)