Health Minister Alexandru Rafila said on Wednesday that in the last 24 hours a little over 9,000 new cases of COVID-19 infection were recorded in Romania, noting that a stabilisation of growth in the sixth pandemic wave is likely at the beginning of the next week.

"Yesterday, there were over 11,000 cases, but compared to the previous week, the same day on Tuesday, there were hundreds of cases fewer. Today, there are just over 9,000 cases, again a few hundred cases fewer than on the previous Wednesday. If these figures are confirmed, at the beginning of next week we will probably be able to talk of a stabilisation of the increase in the number of cases in this sixth pandemic wave," Rafila said at the beginning of a government meeting.

He added that the development of outpatient medical care must be continued and that antivirals should be provided equally to outpatients and inpatients.

"We are doing that, we are restoring the stockpiles of antivirals that have already been used and we are careful to strictly monitor the hospitalisation capacity, including in the therapy wards, which at the moment is about 17% at the level of COVID hospitalisation and 15% at the level of intensive care beds from the total number of beds available for patients infected with COVID. Individual precautionary measures, such as the use of masks indoors and on public transport, avoiding crowding when possible remain valid for the control of the pandemic in Romania," said the minister. AGERPRES (RO - author: Dana Piciu, editor: Claudia Stanescu; EN - author: Corneliu-Aurelian Colceriu, editor: Adina Panaitescu)