Coronavirus: Longer queues at Romania’s western border due to health checks

The health checks conducted at the Romanian borders amid the coronavirus epidemic caused longer queues at the Nădlac II Border Crossing Point in western Romania (at the border with Hungary) on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday. The average waiting time was 50 minutes, according to the local media.

Arad Border Police spokesman Matei Filip Ionuţ told local Agerpres that, although the traffic values at Nădlac II were lower in the last 24 hours compared to an usual day, the queues were formed because the vehicles’ passengers had to fill out questionnaires and perform health checks.

The Arad Border Police spokesman also said that about 11,000 people entered Romania through the Nădlac II Border Crossing Point in the last 24 hours, compared to 14,000 people registered in the same period last year.

The Interior Ministry organized an emergency meeting on the same night to address this issue, especially as some media reports said that several people refused to be placed under quarantine. However, the situation was eventually solved.

Acting interior minister Marcel Vela said in a Facebook post that the Romanian and foreign citizens arriving at Romania’s western border from areas with outbreaks of COVID-19 infection were escorted by police and gendarmes to quarantine centers.

At the time this story was published (on Wednesday morning), the average waiting time at Nădlac II, for those who want to enter the country, was 30 minutes, according to the live map of the Romanian Border Police.

According to the new measures taken by the Romanian authorities in an attempt to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, those returning to the country have to sign a declaration that they do not come from a quarantined area. Romanian citizens arriving from “red zones” such as Italy, China, Iran, and South Korea at terrestrial border points are allowed into the country only under the compulsory measure of being quarantined.

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