Malls, private kindergartens, outdoor pools and gyms to re-open after June 15

The state of alert is to be extended after June 15 as well, but with certain restrictions to be lifted, President Klaus Iohannis has announced on Tuesday.

Therefore,  the authorities decided to re-open shopping centres, except for the restaurants and playgrounds on the inside. Private after-school programmes, kindergartens and nurseries will be also able to resume activity, as well as outdoor pools and gyms, with certain strict hygiene measures in place.

“Considering that we still have patients infected with coronavirus admitted in hospitals, our opinion is that the state of alert should be extended, but with fewer restrictions in place. Taking into account that the new cases of infections has not significantly increased lately, but it has not declined either, we consider that we can go on with relaxing further restrictions,” said the Romanian President.

The extension of the state of alert must by voted by the Parliament. PSD, ALDE and Pro Romania have already announced they do not agree a further extension of the state of alert.

“After June 15, malls will re-open, but without restaurants and playgrounds. Private events will be possible, not public, private ones, with a little bit higher number of participants, 20 people if there indoor events and 50 in the case of outdoor events.

To support parents who will work during the summer vacation, it will be possible the re-opening of private nurseries, kindergartens and after-school units, but it will not be mandatory.

Gyms will be also re-opened, but provided they enforce very strict rules. Outdoor pools will be re-opened as well,” the head of state pointed out.

As for the self-isolation at home, the President said that there is an objective requirement that Romania is considering to enforce. “In  this regard, things will be more relaxed in relation with certain countries where the number of new infections is low, more precisely, where the number of new cases in the past 14 days is below 5 cases per 1 million inhabitants every of these days or on average in the past 14 days,” Iohannis detailed, yet warning that certain states where many Romanians are living do not fall under this relaxing measure. “To exemplify, such countries as Italy, Spain, France, Belgium, Sweden, the Netherlands, do not qualify for the relaxation”, the Romanian head of state added. So, Romanians returning from these countries will still have to stay isolated at home for 14 days.

President Iohannis has thus called on MPs to be responsible, arguing that it is the only solution to still keep the epidemic under control.

“Honourable lawmakers, be responsible! Think that the virus is not disappearing through a vote in Parliament. But if you endorse the Government, then we can efficiently control this epidemic. I want to particularly underline that the Government has taken the best measures to contain this outbreak. A latest study by a prestigious institute in London is telling us that, hadn’t been for these measures worldwide, but precisely in Europe, we would have had millions of deaths. The fact that we imposed these measures in Romania in due time enabled us to control the spread of the epidemic as much as possible. Do not question these measures that have proved correct so far“, he told MPs.