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FILE – People watch a passing bus health workers as they protest outside a government building in Bucharest, Romania, Tuesday, December 28, 2021. Strict pandemic measures have come into force in Romania as officials hope to suppress rapidly rising coronavirus cases amid concerns that the next virus wave could overwhelm the country’s health care system. ( Associated Press photo/Vadim Ghirda. File)
BUCHAREST, Romania ( Associated Press) – Romania on Wednesday reported a massive jump in COVID-19 infections, a pandemic record of nearly 35,000 daily cases, nearly doubling its previous record just a day earlier . Deaths have also started rising.
Daily coronavirus cases in Romania have risen dramatically over the past month, from nearly 1,000 cases a day in mid-December to an epidemic record of 34,255 cases on Wednesday. Its daily death toll stood at 94, the highest number of virus deaths in more than a month.
Official figures show that three-quarters of those deaths were illiterate and that more than 80% of the 692 COVID-19 patients now in intensive care in Romania are still undiagnosed.
Romania, which has had nearly 60,000 deaths since the pandemic began, is the second least vaccinated country in the European Union, with only 41% being fully vaccinated, compared to a block average of 70%.
Health care officials in Romania had predicted a sharp rise in cases amid the fast-spreading Omicron variant. But despite the large number of COVID-19 infections, Romania is facing far fewer hospitalizations and deaths than in the previous virus wave that brought the country’s health care system to its knees.
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Follow all Associated Press stories on the pandemic at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic.
