Covid deaths surge in Romania with just 36 per cent of the population vaccinated

As Europe battles a deadly fourth Covid wave, one nation is being especially devastated by the virus, with 64 per cent of the population refusing the vaccine.

A Covid patient in intensive care at a Romanian hospital as cases soar in the country. Picture: Andreea Campeanu/Getty Images

Europe’s lethal fourth wave has been wreaking havoc for weeks now, with authorities bracing for a horrifying Covid-19 death toll surge across the continent in the months ahead.

So far, a string of nations, including Austria, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands, have introduced strict new measures in a desperate attempt to stop the spread.

And now, it seems yet another country is emerging as a Covid epicentre.

Romania is also in the grip of the fourth wave engulfing the continent, with cases soaring and the health system buckling under the pressure.

The situation facing the eastern European country is now so dire that CNN reports bodies have started to “pile up”, with morgues and hospitals overflowing with patients and casualties.

And the crisis has been made worse by Romania’s shockingly low vaccination rate as scepticism and misinformation abounds.

Vax lies take hold

Romania has a population of around 19 million, but according to Reuters, just 37 per cent are fully vaccinated, despite jabs being available for almost one year now.

That grim number means Romania has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Europe, thanks to especially high levels of vaccine hesitancy, misinformation and superstition, as well as strong religious beliefs and distrust of the government.

Many high-profile Romanians, including religious leaders, have publicly condemned the vaccination campaign – with several labelling it the work of the “Devil” – and anti-vax lies and distortions have also run rampant on social media.

Vaccine hesitancy has been found to be especially high in former Communist nations across eastern Europe, including Romania and nearby Bulgaria, believed to be due to the historic mistrust in authority the system spawned.

One high-profile vaccine critic, Diana Sosoaca – a member of Romania’s Senate – recently tried to stop members of the public from entering a vaccination clinic, with a clip of the stunt posted to her Facebook page as she declared: “If you love your children, stop the vaccinations. Don’t kill them.”

Romania’s health system is buckling as cases surge. Picture: Andreea Campeanu/Getty Images

Another well-known anti-vax voice is Neculai Miron, a pastor and the mayor of the village of Bosanci, who told CNN he was concerned by alleged side effects.

“We don’t think that the vaccine components are very safe. It’s not a safe vaccine,” he told the network.

And yet another anti-vax leader is the influential Bishop Ambrose of Giurgiu, who told the faithful “don’t rush to get vaccinated” in mid-October, sparking a police investigation into his misinformation push.

Bodies ‘pile up’

A CNN team recently visited the capital’s Bucharest University Hospital morgue, revealing that while it had capacity to house 15 bodies, it had received a staggering 41 on the day reporters visited.

As a result, bodies had been placed in the corridors outside the morgue as the facility’s staff struggled to cope, with just one intensive care bed remaining as Covid patients flood the health system.

“I never thought such a catastrophe could happen, that we’d end up sending whole families to their graves,” nurse Claudiu Ionita told CNN.

It’s a situation that has been steadily worsening for weeks now, with the BBC reporting in October that some Romanian Covid patients were now being transferred to hospitals in neighbouring nations with the healthcare system stretched to breaking point.

Just 36 per cent of Romanians are vaccinated. Picture: Andreea Campeanu/Getty Images

“Sometimes I feel like the whole country has become a resuscitation department,” Dorel Sandesc, head of intensive care at Timisoara hospital in western Romania, told the BBC at the time.

Dr Sandesc also slammed Romania’s staggeringly low vaccination rate and the misinformation that had fuelled it.

“It is a national failure on all levels,” he said.

“We are witnessing a kind of national blindness, caused by the lack of education, by the lack of civilisation.”

One person dying every five minutes

Earlier this month, Covid deaths were soaring and a person in Romania was dying every five minutes.

Romania’s health ministry has revealed more than 90 per cent of those who have died from Covid were unvaccinated, with older people most at risk of death – but also the least likely to get the vaccine.

Dr Anca Streinu-Cerce, from Bucharest’s Bals National Institute, recently compared the crisis to a “war”, telling The New York Times doctors were “exhausted”.

“This wave is far worse than the others … We go into our wards but don’t know when we will come out,” Dr Streinu-Cerce told the publication, adding that the worst part was that the tragedy was almost entirely preventable.

“The only real reason anyone is here is because they did not get vaccinated,” she said.