Premium
Prime minister Florin Citu on Thursday night told private broadcaster B1 TV that an Easter lockdown is not being considered in Romania, stressing that the number of infections is rising because people went skiing, did not obey rules in their entirety, and it is proven that schools have not generated this problem.
"It is the largest [number of infections, ed. n.]. We've had these numbers before. From the first moment we saw the effects of lockdown last year, we thought we couldn't go through that anymore. So there is no such risk in Romania. We need to find that balance in which to have the economy functioning, but also to be able to control the pandemic," Citu said.
Asked if there is a risk of an Easter lockdown, the PM said that is not being considered.
"Think of it that last year we didn't go into lockdown and we had reached very high numbers. (...) In wave two there was no lockdown period and Romania was, I think, the only country in Europe without lockdown after the first initial period. No, we are not taking that into account," Citu said.
"We know why these cases are growing. Romania was the country that had a winter season where people went skiing. Very few countries have allowed this, this luxury and now, it's true, people haven't fully followed the rules. If the rules had been obeyed over there, we wouldn't have had to take the measures of the next period. But we have shown something, that we have opened the schools and that is not where the problem comes from and that is not the reason the number of infections has increased," the prime minister stressed.
According to him, people are responsible and when children have the first signs, they keep them at home.
The prime minister also noted that it was proven that mass testing may not work.
"Let's take a look at Slovakia, which has tested everyone and I don't know if it has had any effect in Slovakia. Today it has one of the most difficult situations. And the Czech Republic, too. There are countries that have tested the entire population and that hasn't helped almost at all. On the contrary, we see that today they have very big problems. So I don't know if mass testing, testing more is the result - I'm not an expert here - but Slovakia looks like that. I think we need to be responsible. The moment we have our first symptoms... There are already rapid tests. We can test ourselves, isolate ourselves, stay home, carry the mask all the time, because if you're wearing masks and if you really don't have symptoms, but you're infected, you can't spread as easily. So it's all up to us. I'm telling you, the mask, wearing the mask in the public space, disinfectant, social distancing showed in Romania that it works, this worked," Citu concluded.
