Sarbecovirus

All US-bound air travelers are required to present upon boarding a negative COVID-19 test taken no more than 72 hours (3 days) before arrival to the US; both molecular and antigen tests are accepted, Romania's Foreign Ministry said in a release on the new measures announced by the American authorities regarding the requirements for entering the US in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Health Minister Vassilis Kikilias announced on Friday that the ministry will establish a nationwide surveillance and alert network to monitor mutated strains of SARS-CoV-2.

This will create more accurate epidemiological data that will help the government make better decisions for the protection of public health, Kikilias said after a meeting on the issue at the ministry.

Two other cases of infection with the increased transmissibility SARS-CoV-2 variant were sequenced at the National Institute of Infectious Diseases "Matei Bals", informed the Ministry of Health, specifying that it recommended, on Friday, to the Bucharest City Emergency Management Committee (CMBSU) to postpone the decisions to relax the restrictions.

A new study comparing the incidence of sudden deaths occurring outside the hospital across New York City's highly diverse neighbourhoods with the percentage of positive SARS-CoV-19 tests found that increased sudden deaths during the pandemic correlate to the extent of virus infection in a neighbourhood.

Any information on the origin of the coronavirus causing Covid-19 that will be collected during the WHO mission in China will be valuable. Discovering the origin of a virus, we will be prepared for other risks of virus transmission from animals to humans, told BNR virologist Assoc. Prof. Lyubomira Nikolaeva-Glomb from the National Center for Infectious and Parasitic Diseases.

The National Committee for Emergency Situations adopted on Monday the decision regarding the 30-day extension, starting January 13, of the state of alert in Romania as well as of the specific measures to prevent the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 infection that have been in force until now. The decision will be submitted to the government for approval in Tuesday's meeting.

As many as 3,082 new cases of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 have been recorded in the last 24 hours, following 15,797 national tests, the Strategic Communication Group (GCS) reports on Sunday. These are cases that have not previously had a positive test, the GCS states. As of Sunday, 671,284 cases of people infected with the novel coronavirus had been confirmed in Romania.

At a time when mass testing for the novel coronavirus is becoming extremely important for controlling the pandemic, a Greek research team has created a formidable "pocket lab" that can accurately detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus on the spot, anywhere in the world, in less than 30 minutes. 

The new highly transmissible coronavirus strain that has initially been detected in the UK has been confirmed in Romania in a 27-year-old woman, the Ministry of Health informs on Friday. According to the source, the patient is in a "very good" clinical condition, is in isolation at home, supervised by the family doctor, according to the methodology in force.

Most cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been recorded, since the beginning of the pandemic and until now, in Bucharest - 106,567 and in the counties of Cluj - 31,520 and Iasi - 28,610, according to data reported, on Friday, by the Strategic Communication Group (GCS).