BUCHAREST, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Authorities in the Romanian capital Bucharest decided on Sunday to ban indoor activities of restaurants and cafes starting from Monday, as the city passed the three per thousand incidence rate of COVID-19 cases.
This ban, lasting for two weeks, will be reassessed at the end of the interval, the Bucharest Municipality Committee for Emergency Situations (CMBSU) made the decision in a special meeting.
The activities of restaurants and cafes inside hotels, guesthouses or other accommodation units are also banned, but they can provide services to people accommodated in their units.
The decision also bans activities in bars, clubs and discotheques, as well as those in cinemas, theaters, concert halls and other indoor performance venues. The organization of outdoor performance of shows, concerts, festivals or other cultural events is also not permitted.
Bucharest was included in the COVID-19 red zone after its 14-day cumulative rate reached 3.05 cases per 1,000 people on Friday, and 3.19 on Sunday.
There are four other counties in the eastern European country that are also in the red zone where the COVID-19 infection is more severe. Currently, the population in these red zones accounts for over one-fifth of the country's total.
As of Sunday, Romania has 828,283 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 20,900 deaths.
The authorities hope to alleviate the pandemic by launching its vaccination campaign that started on Dec. 27, 2020. Currently, three vaccines have been approved for use in Romania -- those produced by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca.
Globally, 261 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide -- 79 of them in clinical trials -- in countries including Germany, China, Russia, Britain, and the United States, according to the latest information released by the World Health Organization. Enditem