Health Minister Nelu Tataru said on Wednesday that in the period immediately ahead cross-evaluations will be conducted in hospitals and public health directorates to find out if the healthcare providers are capable of operating.

"Two days after the adoption of the decision of the National Committee on Emergency Management , there is the same upward trend, the same upward trend that brings us today to a number of 2,958 newly detected cases of SARS-COV-2 infections, and, at the same time , 612 COIVID-19 patients are in intensive care, of which 199 are hooked to invasive mechanical ventilation. It is a moment that we (...) are bringing back to everyone's attention, to specify that the same upward trend keeps on going, despite those tough decisions and precautions that we have imposed and must follow in order to contain the number of new cases spreading into the community. In the period immediately ahead, there will be those cross-evaluations in hospitals and directorates to find out whether or not there is that capacity for each of those who work in these hospitals to provide that care. The healthcare systems are still resilient, but our recommendation is not pushing these medical systems to their limits," Tataru said on Wednesday at the Government House.

He added that medical officials and the public are in a moment that must be managed together.

"The healthcare facilities, the ones re-evaluated yesterday in Bucharest and the ones from all over the country, those 226 COVID support units can adapt to include the number of cases they deal with. But, once again, it is those capacities that must be respected. The healthcare workers are the same as seven months ago, are the same that received even two hundred cases a day, who receives 3,000 cases a day. We have reached the moment when we have to manage it together. We have a message for the healthcare staff who, despite being tired, is still there and will provide that medical assistance, but, we also have a message for the public: let's follow those rules!"

According to Tataru, it is the county emergency management committees that permanently re-evaluate everything that happens locally and "will give the measure of the stringency or restrictions that are imposed from one day to the next."

He said that at the moment there are 226 COVID support hospitals in Romania.

"In these 226 COVID support hospitals we have 1,050 fully equipped intensive care beds, and there are currently 612 people in those hospitals taking up the intensive care beds. If we try to see such capacity, then the staff will be the one to prove that it can sustain the capacity," Tataru said.

Romania's COVID-19 case count jumped by 2,958 in the last 24 hours as resulting from tests performed nationwide, the Strategic Communication Group (GCS), the official novel coronavirus communication task force, reported on Wednesday. AGERPRES (RO - author: Daniel Florea, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Cristina Zaharia)