Doctor burnt in Neamt hospital fire tests positive for COVID-19 in Romania, negative in Belgium

Romanian Health minister told an interview to Digi24 that doctor Catalin Denciu, the physician who faced the fire at the Neamt County Hospital to save the patients in the intensive care unit is in a serious condition in Belgium. Before being transferred to Belgium, he was tested for COVID-19 and the test was positive, although he had been infected with SARS-CoV-2 before in the spring.

Minister Nelu Tataru explained why the doctor had been transferred to Belgium.

“There were spare beds in Bucharest, at Floreasca and Bagdasar-Arsenie hospitals, but also in Timisoara. But the check he underwent at Floreasca revealed he had severe burns on 75% of the body, and suspicions of upper ways burns. And the complexity of the case made decide the transfer abroad”.

“The doctor was infected with SARS-CoV-2 in March, April. He also had a major IGc of antibodies and he donated blood plasma in various occasions”.

However, later on Tuesday,  Romanian PM Ludovic Orban said that the PCR Real Time test taken by doctor Catalin Denciu at the military hospital in Belgium is negative.

“The Real Time PCR test conducted at the military hospital in Belgium is negative. The Floreasca hospital in Bucharest probably had no time to process Real Time PCR test, it was probably an antigen test. As a matter of fact, the doctor contracted the virus and was cured, so he has antibodies. The probability to test positive was very low”, the PM said.