Coronavirus Romania: New Number of New Cases on December 18, 2021

The coronavirus continues to be a problem for Romanian society during this period when the authorities in Romania are preparing to introduce a new COVID certificate, and confirm hundreds of new cases daily, 733 cases confirmed in just the last 24 hours, the situation is still one extremely serious.

In hospitals, things started to become calmer with the reduction of the daily number of new cases, but even so we are talking about serious problems regarding admissions to ATI, or deaths, which still remain at much too high numbers.

The vaccination campaign is going in the opposite direction to the epidemic situation in Romania, and this in the conditions where people are getting vaccinated with the first dose of vaccine in smaller and smaller numbers recently, but this situation will probably change after the COVID certificate is imposed .

"Until today, December 18, 1.797.706 cases of infection with the new coronavirus (COVID-19) were registered on the territory of Romania, of which 10.719 are of re-infected patients, tested positive more than 180 days after the first infection .

1.723.945 patients were declared cured.

In the last 24 hours, 733 new cases of people infected with SARS - CoV - 2 (COVID - 19) were registered, of which 9 are re-infected patients, tested positive more than 180 days after the first infection.

The distribution of total cases and new cases by county can be found in the table below.

*Regarding the "new cases not allocated by county", we specify that their number is determined by the changes made to the electronic platform through which the test results for the new coronavirus are reported and centralized. Thus, according to the new methodology, the test centers directly enter the results of the tests carried out, following which the epidemiological investigation is carried out at the level of the Public Health Directorates and the positive cases are assigned to the county/locality to which the infected persons belong.

**As for cases from abroad, these are cases of citizens who came to Romania having been infected in other countries. These cases were included in the total of new cases not allocated by county.

The coefficient of cumulative infections per 14 days, reported per 1.000 inhabitants, is calculated by the Directorates of Public Health, at the level of the Municipality of Bucharest and the counties. Below you have the graph made based on the reports received by the CNCCI from the Public Health Directorates:

Distinct from the newly confirmed cases, following retesting of patients who were already positive, 202 people were reconfirmed positive. The distribution of these cases by county can be found in the table below.

Until today, 58.143 people diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection have died.

In the interval 17.12.2021 (10:00) – 18.12.2021 (10:00) 64 deaths were reported by the INSP, of which 8 before the reference interval, (29 men and 35 women), of patients infected with the new coronavirus, hospitalized in hospitals in Alba, Arad, Bacău, Bihor, Brăila, Buzău, Caraș-Severin, Constanța, Dâmbovița, Galati, Giurgiu, Gorj, Harghita, Iași, Maramureș, Mureș, Olt, Satu Mare, Sibiu, Suceava, Teleorman, Timiș, Vaslui, Vâlcea, Vrancea and the Municipality of Bucharest.

Among the 64 deaths, 1 was registered in the age category 30-39 years, 1 in the age category 40-49 years, 6 in the age category 50-59 years, 14 in the age category 60-69 years, 24 in the 70-79 age category and 18 in the over 80 age category.

63 of the registered deaths are of patients who had co-morbidities, and 1 deceased patient had no co-morbidities.

8 deaths were reported prior to the reference interval, occurring in the counties of Arad, Bacău, Gorj, recorded in the months of October and November 2021. 56 deaths were reported in the reference interval.

 Of the total of 64 deceased patients, 59 were unvaccinated and 5 vaccinated. The 5 deceased vaccinated patients were between the age groups of 60-69 years and over 80 years. All vaccinated patients who died had comorbidities.

In specialized health facilities, the total number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 is 3.191. Of these, 556 are hospitalized at ATI. Of the 556 patients admitted to ATI, 45 have a certificate attesting to vaccination.

Out of the total of hospitalized patients, 65 are minors, 61 being hospitalized in wards and 4 in ATI.

Until this date, at the national level, 10.926.104 RT-PCR tests and 5.731.702 rapid antigen tests have been processed. In the last 24 hours, 11.859 RT-PCR tests (4.842 based on case definition and medical protocol and 7.017 on request) and 32.192 rapid antigen tests were performed.

On the territory of Romania, 11.574 people confirmed to be infected with the new coronavirus are in isolation at home, and 3.522 people are in institutional isolation. Also, 78.705 people are in home quarantine, and 33 people are in institutionalized quarantine.

In the last 24 hours, 1.059 calls were registered to the single emergency number 112 and 1.175 to the TELVERDE line (0800 800 358), opened specifically for informing citizens.

As a result of the violation of the provisions of Law no. 55/2020 regarding some measures to prevent and combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the police and gendarmes applied, on December 17, 968 contraventional sanctions, in the amount of 270.450 lei.

Also, through the competent structures of the Police, 3 criminal files were drawn up yesterday for thwarting the fight against diseases, an act provided for and punished by art. 352 Criminal Code.

We remind citizens that the Ministry of Internal Affairs operationalized, starting on 04.07.2020, a TELVERDE line (0800800165) where violations of health protection rules can be reported.

The calls are taken by a dispatcher, in an integrated system, and distributed to the territorial structures to verify the reported aspects."