COVID-19 vaccination certificates to be requested depending on pandemic developments

Health Minister Ioana Mihaila said on Monday that there are talks among officials of the Ministry of Health, the Department for Emergency Situations (DSU) and the National Public Health Institute (INSP) on making the access to crowded enclosed spaces conditional on holding a COVID-19 vaccination certificate, as well as the action to be taken if the number of infections increases significantly and hospital beds "start to fill up."

"There are talks among officials of the Ministry of Health, the Department for Emergency Situations, and specialists of the National Public Health Institute on how we will act if the cumulative reporting rate increases significantly, if hospital beds start to fill up. We have some starting principles. The most important is that we want to keep the schools open for as long as possible, as it is provided for in the joint order now: up to six cases per 1,000 population the schools will be open for in-person schooling when nothing special happens to infections in children. A second principle and a second goal we have is not to restrict the movement of vaccinated people. And a third is to strive not to close those sectors of the economy that suffered last year, such as the hospitality sector. We start from these three principles and depending on how the pandemic goes, we will see what activities will require checking those certificates, allowing access either on the basis of a COVID-19 recovery certificate or the COVID-19 vaccination certificate, in the case of activities that carry a higher risk of transmission, and those are the activities in crowded enclosed spaces," the minister told Digi 24 private broadcaster.

Mihaila said that a "working option" is that in restaurants or bars, where the risk of transmission is quite high, admission should be granted based on presenting the certificate, either the European one or the vaccination one.

"Another way of working is that in restaurants or bars, where the risk of transmission when not wearing a mask is quite high, admission should be granted based on presenting a COVID-19 related certificate, either a European or a vaccination one, but these talks will materialise as the reporting rate increases," she said.

According to the minister, the growth rate of infections is "faster than predicted" by the INSP a month ago.

"The rate now, including in Bucharest, is below one case per 1,000 population, but the rate of infection growth is faster than the INSP predictions a month ago, for example. So the growth is faster, which we have expected in fact because we have noticed that in other European countries, which are now in the thick of a fourth COVID-19 wave, an accelerated increase in the number of cases, precisely due to the increased contagiousness of the Delta strain," said Mihaila.