The Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, declared on Tuesday that he initially proposed a phased lifting of the anti-COVID restrictions, but it was considered that this is no longer the case, and the decision to lift them was taken jointly, within the Government.

"First of all, we must clarify that this was not decided by the Ministry of Health, it was a decision of the Romanian Government not to prolong the state of alert, and the consequence of the termination of the state of alert was the cancellation of these restrictions, which were on during the state of alert. We have continued to recommend a number of things that we consider to be essential during this period, when there is still a community transmission of the new coronavirus infection. However, there are quite a few thousand cases registered daily and until this community transmission does not stop, ie the disease can happen anywhere, due to the presence of people who are infected, then obviously our recommendations are still the same, namely the use of masks in enclosed spaces and means of public transport, avoidance of congestion, individual hygiene," said Alexandru Rafila on RFI.

According to him, there are some things that have to do with individual responsibility, but they also have to take into account the responsibility of a certain community that wants to stay healthy.

Asked if he agreed with the lifting of the restrictions, the Minister of Health said that he had proposed a phased lifting.

He added that the decision, which was probably based on an analysis, was taken by the entire Government, and that it was important for the population to remain responsible.

Among the elements taken into account to make this decision, the most important was the one related to the rapid decrease in the number of cases registered in the last two or three weeks.

As to a future "wave six", Alexandru Rafila believes that it "can be taken into account or can only be discussed in the autumn, except this spring", adding that it cannot be discussed because it involves a another strain.

Referring to renouncing of the introduction of the "green certificate", the minister said that "there is no kind of failure and no change of opinion".

"Of course there are criticisms from people who have often been inconsistent and incorrect during their tenure. I want to tell you that in terms of use of the professional certificate, the green certificate, we even made a normative act that was debated regarding its use. As long as I am a member of this Government I cannot have a contrary opinion to this decision taken by the Government not to extend the state of alert. (...) This does not mean that we should not continue to do our duty as doctors and try to protect the population as best we can, under the conditions decided at the level of the governing coalition," Alexandru Rafila argued. AGERPRES (RO - author: Catalin Matei, editor: Mihai Simionescu; EN - author: Bogdan Gabaroi, editor: Adina Panaitescu)