Valeriu Gheorghita: Pessimistic scenarios show possible increase in number of COVID-19 cases in September

Chairman of the National COVID-19 Vaccination Coordination Committee (CNCAV) Valeriu Gheorghita said on Tuesday that "pessimistic scenarios" show a "possible" daily increase of over 1,500 - 1,600 new cases of infection with the novel coronavirus in the second half of September, agerpres reports.

"These are working scenarios, that depend on the dominance of one viral strain or another, on the implementation of other measures that may limit the spread of the number of cases, and also, on the degree to which the population observes and adheres to these measures, the vaccination rate. However, the pessimistic scenarios essentially show a possible increase in the number of cases in September, when we will have a more pronounced increase, even with increases of over 1,500 - 1,600 cases recorded daily in the second half of the month. In fact, I also looked at the ECDC reporting and the estimates that ECDC makes, including for Romania. If we are now at 9.3 cases per thousand inhabitants cumulatively over 14 days, in the next two weeks the trend is the doubling of the case notification rate, namely we will reach almost 18 cases in two weeks per hundred thousand inhabitants. So these are the predictions, including for Romania and for other 17 European countries, which are currently on an upward trend," Valeriu Gheorghita told a press conference.

In his opinion, "at the moment", COVID-19 vaccination should not be mandatory, because the Romanian society is not prepared for this type of approach.