Authorities are gradually bracing themselves for the large-scale spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Romania. The Kolozs (Cluj) County Council announced that in case the epidemiological situation worsens, they are taking over a private clinic to be able to treat coronavirus patients there as well.
The clinic in question, Polaris Medical, is located in the vicinity of Kolozsvár (Cluj-Napoca), in the village of Szucság (Suceagu); it has been functioning as a private hospital specialized in cardiovascular and neurological diseases, physiological rehabilitation and palliative care.
According to County Council president, Alin Tişe, it was the first to arrange such a takeover and the arrangement dictates that the private hospital will provide the most favorable facilities for the isolation and the treatment of COVID-19 patients. A total of 180 infected people can be admitted and treated by professional healthcare workers at this institution, said Tişe.
“Our council is trying to prepare for the management of a possibly intense epidemiological situation. The most important thing is to avoid overwhelming hospitals and that the number of infected does not explode from one day to another,” István Vákár, the County Council VP, emphasized.
Another decision of the council secured 80 new places for those who have to be placed in quarantine for two weeks. A hotel in Kolozsvár, called Univers T (property of the county administration) was turned into a quarantine location. According to the council’s communiqué, some 40 citizens returning from Italy were due to arrive on Tuesday and would head to this location.
As of Wednesday afternoon, Romania had 906 confirmed coronavirus cases, with 144 new infections diagnosed in the previous 24 hours. Furthermore, 18 patients were in need of intensive care, eight of which were said to be in serious condition. Also as of Wednesday, 14 COVID-19 patients had died, a total of 6,016 people were in institutionalized quarantine, and 96,055 were in home isolation.
Title image: Kolozs County Council was the first to arrange the takeover of a private clinic for COVID-19 patients
Source: Consiliul Judeţean Cluj/Facebook
