Coronavirus in Romania: Health minister resigns

Romania’s health minister Victor Costache (the one behind PM Ludovic Orban in the opening photo) resigned on Thursday morning, March 26, prime minister Ludovic Orban announced in a press statement. The resignation comes in the middle of the biggest medical crisis Romania has faced in recent history, caused by the new coronavirus pandemic.

"I have been informed of this resignation," PM Orban said. "I regret the minister's resignation but I also understand it and I thank him for the collaboration," he added.

According to sources quoted by the local media, Orban himself asked Victor Costache to resign.

PM Orban said his proposal for the health minister seat is Nelu Tataru, a state secretary within the Health Ministry, who "has been in the front line in the fight against the new coronavirus" and is familiar with the strategy.

Health minister Victor Costache has been strongly criticized after he said on Wednesday evening, in an interview with the biggest TV station in Romania, that all of Bucharest’s population would be tested for Covid-19. This would require 2 to 4 million tests while Romania’s current test processing capacity is under 2,000 per day.

Moreover, many Romanian hospitals have been confronted with big problems as doctors and nurses have been infected with Covid-19 because of infected patients who haven’t been tested. The biggest problems are in Suceava, where the county hospital was closed for disinfection as more than 80 doctors and nurses have been infected.

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(Photo source: Inquam Photos / George Calin)