The Minister of Health talked about the new Omicron strain

Romania is closely following the situation regarding the spread of the new covid strain, Omicron, discovered in southern Africa, and present in more and more European countries. The Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, announced that the hospitals have been instructed to be vigilant and to try to detect as quickly as possible, through sequencing, the existence of this variant in Romania.

In an intervention on Radio Romania News, the minister also specified that in two or three weeks there will be the first clear information regarding the evolution of the infection with the new strain and the protection offered by the vaccine. Alexandru Rafila spoke about the measures taken so far.

Alexandru Rafila: Being a strain with high transmissibility, we are trying to apply the measures we have at our disposal: limiting travel to the south of the African continent in general, but in other African countries too, as there may soon be many cases in other places, especially in Egypt. There is, at the moment, a decision that has been sent to all Public Health Directorates and hospitals, in the sense of trying to detect as early as possible the existence of a strain that could cause problems and obviously we will continue to go as far as possible with public health measures, if necessary.

Translated by: Radu Matei