PM Citu: Solution regarding use of COVID green certificate at hand, I don't want to shut down economy

The solution regarding the use of the COVID green certificates internally in case of carrying out some non-essential economic activities in the localities where an incidence rate of over 3 per thousand inhabitants is recorded is a handy solution, as we do not want to shut down the economy, Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Thursday evening, referring to the CNSU approved decision on the use of the green certificates at national level, agerpres reports.

"Now was the time, Romania has been in a green zone, until now, and we have managed to keep it in the green zone for a long time compared to other European countries, and the solution with the certificate could have been anything else, but this is a handy solution, it came because we don't want to shut down the economy. The green certificate is a tool at hand and we can all use it. We can take that QR code on our phone as an application that can be read very quickly, and that's why we opted for this. It could have been any other option, but it was the most handy at the moment, if other better options appear, we will use those," Florin Citu told TVR 1 national television broadcaster.

The PM underscored that he started from a simple principle, that of not shutting down the economy.

"We will not close the markets, we will not close the malls, we will not close anything, today we also have a vaccine, and we also have these tools through which we can tell people that they have gone through the disease, they are tested, it is very easy and we can keep the economy open. We saw the impact of the pandemic on the Romanian economy, and also on the global economy, last year, when the economies were closed, but we feel the effects this year as well and we see them in many of the prices we see this year, because these are orders made last year," said Citu.

Regarding the access to clubs, discos, gambling halls only for those vaccinated, the PM explained: "There we do not change things, there is interaction, it is more complicated, it's been the same so far, we do not change things yet in those areas, but the rest, yes, we will use the green certificate, only for those areas, those localities, where we have an incidence higher than 3 per thousand."

The National Committee for Emergency Situations (CNSU) approved, through a new decision, the proposal on the mandatory COVID green certificate for access to economic activities in certain areas in localities where the incidence rate is higher than 3 per thousand inhabitants and lower or equal to 6 per thousand inhabitants.

The proposal regarding the use of the green certificate internally approved on Thursday by a decision of CNSU is to be validated, on Friday, by a Government Decision.