Coronavirus crisis: Harsher sentences for those who don’t respect quarantine/isolation rules

PM Ludovic Orban has announced harsher sentences for those who don’t respect the quarantine or isolation rules or for those who give false or incomplete statements about the location that come from or about the people whom they made contact with. “They are jeopardizing the Romanians’ health“, said PM Orban in a press conference on Thursday.

“We decided to increase the penalties for forgery on the coronavirus epidemic. There are situations when a citizen returns to Romania and must be placed under quarantine or in isolation. Citizens must complete a declaration. If they lie about the country they are coming from, they will face the consequences of the law. They are committing a crime and they are facing prison sentences“, said the premier.

A new crime is added, the omission to give information. If in an epidemiological inquiry someone is giving incomplete statements about the people they made contact with, it is considered omission. They face a criminal file.

The PM said that, in his view, most Romanians are complying with the law and the authorities’ decisions.

Not complying with the quarantine may send the perpetrators to three years in prison. If this action has prompted the spread of the disease, the sentences goes up to 5 years in prison.

If the disease is spread by somebody who knows is suffering from that disease, the punishment is up to 7 years in prison, and if it prompts the death of a person the prison sentence goes up to 15 years.

Citizens who lie that they are coming from the areas affected by Coronavirus risk up to 5 years in prison.