Romanian Minister of Health, Alexandru Rafila, stated that the measles epidemic has ended after a „sustained” decrease in the number of cases.
However, the Minister warned that the epidemic risks re-emerging when the decrease in vaccination coverage leads to new cases.
„As the data received by the Ministry of Health, through the National Institute of Public Health, showed a sustained decrease in the number of cases and the disappearance of outbreaks at the national level, our epidemiologist colleagues had criteria to request the Ministry of Health to close this matter.
Basically, what happened, for everyone to understand: what we call 'the susceptible population' has been depleted, meaning people who have not been vaccinated, or many of them have fallen ill, and thus this epidemic outbreak has ceased.
But that does not mean that things cannot repeat in a year or two or three, when the decrease in vaccination coverage again puts a certain population at risk of falling ill because they are not protected," said Rafila during a press conference.
The Ministry of Health had declared a measles epidemic at the national level last December.