PM Orban: This week showed restrictive measures have generated positive effects

Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said on Monday that last week's data showed that the restrictions imposed in the context of the pandemic had positive effects, indicating a decrease in the number of new cases, and also an increase in the number of people healed compared to those infected.

"This week has shown that the restrictive measures we have taken have generated positive effects. It is clear that every day, compared to the number of infections of the equivalent day in the previous week, we have had a smaller number of cases. Also, we had for four days more people cured than the number of people infected. It is a downward trend, obviously. On the other hand, we must not let our guard down, especially since it has been noted that these restrictive measures have generated positive effects, we must be just as careful and respect the health protection norms as rigorously. The higher the degree of compliance, the higher the number of Romanians who always respect the rules of health protection, the higher our chance to return to a normal life sooner," the prime minister told a news conference.

According to Orban, most restrictions will remain in place during the winter holidays.

"We will apply the regulations in force, both at local and county level, regardless of whether it is quarantine, the closure of restaurants when the indicator of 3 per thousand is exceeded. All will remain in force. Some national measures could be lifted on a time horizon, if based on the epidemiological assessment such a conclusion is reached, but, I repeat, only on condition of maintaining a downward trend in terms of the number of infections," he said.

Prime Minister Orban drew attention to the fact that an analysis of the number of cases exclusively in relation to the previous day is not recommended.

"It is not advisable to rush in making predictions based on the results of a single day or two days. As a rule, an evaluation must be made at longer intervals. We usually make, besides a daily comparison, a comparison with the equivalent day of previous weeks, because, this is how it is, you know that the testing pace is different depending on the day of the week. (...) Regarding the interval analysis, it is clear that the number of infections decreased in the past week and the number of infections was almost every day lower than the number of infections last week and overall, the number of infections was lower," the head of the Government also pointed out.