About 3,000 anti-vaccination protesters from across Romania have gathered outside the parliament building in Bucharest as authorities announced new restrictions amid an increase in COVID-19 infections
BUCHAREST, Romania – About 3,000 anti-vaccination protesters from across Romania gathered outside the parliament building in Bucharest on Sunday as authorities announced new restrictions amid an increase in COVID-19 infections.
It has been less than six weeks since COVID-19 restrictions were relaxed in Bucharest, but rising infections have prompted authorities to reintroduce stricter restrictions for a 14-day period starting Monday.
The restrictions will cause bars, restaurants, theaters, gambling venues and cafes to close indoor spaces as the capital’s contamination rate rose to more than three cases per 1,000 residents over a rolling 14-day period – effectively entering a ‘red scenario’ that the authorities use as a barrier to manage both restrictions and the spread of the virus.
Many protesters waved Romanian flags and chanted ‘freedom’ and ‘down with the mask’. A large sign said, “Say no to forced vaccination.”
The demonstration was attended by George Simion, the leader of Romania’s far-right AUR party, who spoke out against mandatory vaccination.
With the new restrictions, many schools in the capital will revert to online learning, while kindergartens, primary and 12th grade students will remain physically present, in some cases only at half capacity.
“We’ve been through this and we’ve survived,” Andreea Beca, who runs a small bistro in central Bucharest, told The Associated Press.
“We also realized that maintaining the quality of our food is the most important criterion for our customers and that they order online – we can only hope for the best,” she said.
At the same time, tougher measures will be imposed in the western city of Timisoara, a city of more than 400,000 inhabitants, which will go into quarantine after the infection rate has risen above seven per 1,000 inhabitants.
In quarantine areas, residents are required to fill out an official form stating the reason for their relocation. There is a slightly imposed curfew across the country between 11 PM and 6 AM
Many former communist countries in Eastern Europe are fighting vaccine skepticism as immunization campaigns are slowly being rolled out across Europe.
According to a government website, more than 1.7 million people in Romania have received a COVID-19 vaccine.
Romania – a country of more than 19 million people – has more than 828,000 COVID-19 infections registered and 20,900 people have died.