Romanian Health Minister Quits as Virus Spreads to Doctors
Romanian Health Minister Quits as Coronavirus Spreads
(Bloomberg) --
Romania’s health minister resigned as the country struggled to contain the spread of the coronavirus with hundreds of doctors and nurses testing positive amid a lack of equipment.
Victor Costache will be replaced by his deputy Nelu Tataru, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said Thursday. The country is witnessing an accelerated increase in COVID-19 cases after thousands of citizens returned from abroad, mainly from Italy and Spain, in recent weeks.
Years of underfunding left Romania’s health-care system -- ranked one of Europe’s worst -- among the most exposed to the virus. An outbreak among hospital staff in the northern county of Suceava put Tataru in the front line of the crisis.
“We want to protect our hospitals and urgently purchase more equipment,” Orban said. “This is our main priority.”
Romania has 906 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 17 deaths. Another 100,000 people are in quarantine or isolation at home, but less than a quarter of those have been tested.
Costache prompted an uproar on Wednesday by saying the ministry plans to test the entire population of Bucharest, more than 2 million people, for the virus. The country as a whole has only tested about 12,000 people so far.
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