Romania ranks first in the European Union and among top 10 in the world in terms of the back-to-normal index after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to study conducted d by a team of six scientists of the Faculty of Economics and Business Management (FSEGA) of the Babes-Bolyai University (UBB) of Cluj-Napoca.
According to the press statement released on Thursday by UBB, the latest published data show that Romania reached, in July, 500 days after the first case of COVID-19 in the country, a level of 81.17% of the normalcy index, which places it first among EU countries participating in this study and 8th in the world.
The team analysed the data related to global normalcy index developed by specialists of the British magazine "The Economist" that measures current activity to pre-pandemic levels.
The eight indicators that give the normalcy index are the use of public transport in large cities, road traffic in these cities, the number of domestic and international flights, time not at home, cinema revenues, sports attendance, retail and office use.
UBB researchers claim that Romanians spend even more time outside their homes and cinemas than before the pandemic.
The UBB project monitors in real time the developments in the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic state of the country, offering at the same time short and medium term forecasts regarding the pandemic and the economic performance of Romania.
UBB Rector Daniel David believes that the data published by the research team needs to be followed by an analysis that takes into account the threat of a new pandemic wave amid a low vaccination rate.