RSS
Iohannis: no official talks currently of lockdown in Romania
President Klaus Iohannis said on Wednesday at the Cotroceni Presidential Palace that for the time being there is no discussion at the level of the national leadership about locking Romania down.
"For the time being, we are not talking at the national leadership level about a so-called lockdown, that is closing down all activities, but we are looking for solutions that will stop the spread of the virus and at the same time continue essential activities. Ultimately, no matter how worried we may be, we need to find a way to continue even though there is this pandemic. In our approach we must include the continuation of democracy in Romania. Without elections there is no democracy. There is a pandemic, at the same time the lawmakers' terms of office ends, and we have to come up and elect a new Parliament, but under very special circumstances," Iohannis told a news conference.
He underscored that the number of intensive care beds should be increased in hospitals that can receive COVID-19 patients.
"All that must be done at the same time, because locking the country down, in my opinion, is not a solution. What would we do: close the country for two weeks, then what? We have to start from scratch once again and then it is obvious that we have to found a fair balance that allows us to continue our lives under pandemic circumstances. We can't think we'll be back to normal in a month or two. We'll be back to normal if we care now, in a month or two months' time and if scientists manage to find a vaccine, hopefully soon enough," said Iohannis.
He added that he does not want to see Bucharest placed under quarantine, in the context of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and underscored that a proposal in this respect should come from the specialists.
"The proposal to go into quarantine must come from experts, from specialists," Iohannis pointed out. In this respect, the head of state discussed the situation in Bucharest. "I haven't heard any proposal like this targeting the Capital or entire counties, but you know that we did have such situations in some localities, which were placed under quarantine, with pretty good effects. I don't want to see Bucharest placed under quarantine," Iohannis pointed out.
In the context of the pandemic, Iohannis said that "it is obvious how some authorities, and it happened in Bucharest too, hesitated" and underscored that the authorities should organize better.