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Romania is one of the poorest countries in the European Union. With the outbreak of the fourth wave of “catastrophic” outbreaks, the number of deaths related to COVID has skyrocketed.
It also has one of the weakest vaccination campaigns against the virus in Europe.
According to media reports and posts on social networks, in several hospitals in Bucharest and the northeastern city of Iasi, ambulances have been lining up outside the hospital waiting for beds to be available.
Usually, ICU beds are vacant because the previous occupant has died.
Data released on Friday showed the highest number of pandemic deaths reported in one day, with 385 people dying from the virus.
Catalin Apostolescu, director of the Matei Bals Hospital in Bucharest, said: “If the current flow continues, the health system will collapse within a day or two because we don’t have enough space to accommodate patients.” The hospital is currently at “110 percent”. Occupancy rate.
For the first time since the pandemic began, Romania has considered transferring 200 to 300 patients abroad for treatment, which senior officials called a health “disaster”.
The pandemic has exacerbated the difficulties faced by the country’s underfunded and understaffed healthcare system. Last week, a hospital fire killed 7 patients. This is the third such incident in Romania in less than a year.
The country’s slow vaccination campaign has fully immunized approximately one-third of the eligible population.
Lucia Draghici is a patient in her 50s at Matei Bals Hospital. She has difficulty breathing due to the virus. She admits that despite the disease’s impact on her, she is still “very afraid” of vaccination. vaccine.
The 53-year-old Orthodox priest Georgica Vieru said he was “one of the people who thinks vaccines are not good”.
29 days after recovering from the virus in the hospital, he had time to rethink.
“After I went through all this, I knew I was wrong,” he said.
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