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Health Minister Nelu Tataru declared on Tuesday in Parliament that COVID-19 patients will be assessed in the first 48 hours, and those with no symptoms will be allowed to isolate at home for up to 14 days.
"Every COVID-infected patient will undergo an assessment in the first 48 hours in hospital, consisting of a clinical, biological, paraclinical, radiological evaluation. The attending physician will also have the possibility to defend their diagnosis. After a maximum of 48 hours, symptomless people can be released for a 14-day isolation at home. Let me emphasize that this law is not only for COVID, the incubation period for COVID is 14 days; for symptomatic patients, depending on the symptomatology, the stay in hospital will be extended until they are cured or until they become asymptomatic," Nelu Tataru said after participating in debates in the Senate's Law Committee on the quarantine and isolation bill.
Referring to the people who took the COVID-19 test, the Health Minister said that they "stay in isolation until they get the result".
Asked if travelers coming from red areas will be tested, Tataru said that they will undergo "the same procedure, which is currently being quarantined".
Regarding the quarantine of assets, the Minister said that the option agreed upon in the discussions at the Law Committee is a "disinfection quarantine".
"The respective asset is quarantined, disinfected, and then returned to the owner. If a longer period is needed and we do not have a neutralizing agent, it is kept in extended quarantine until natural neutralization sets in," Tataru said.
In connection with the various allegations that have been circulated regarding the situation of the children of people found COVID-positive and hospitalized, the Health Minister specified that "they will not be taken in custody, the children remain in the care of the family up to the fourth degree of relationship".
Tataru said that the patient also has the right to refuse treatment for COVID-19.
Regarding symptomless people who go into home isolation after 48 hours, the HealthMin specified that they must sign a self-declaration whereby they take responsibility for opting to go home, but that "there is also an administrative decision of the Public Health Department which they can challenge in court."
Asked about the duration of the state of alert, Tataru replied: "The state of alert will be in place as long as we need to keep the citizens of Romania safe, given that we experience an increase in the number of cases."
