After having weathered the pandemic well for 18 months, coronavirus infections are now skyrocketing. A devastating milestone of 15,000 daily infections was recorded this week — the highest number since the start of the health crisis. Across the country all 1,453 designated ICU beds are now occupied and hundreds of Romanians are dying every day. And if the virus doesn’t kill them, the poor health infrastructure may: last week seven patients died in a fire, already the third such fire in an UCI unit in less than a year. The problem is compounded due to a government crisis that has been raging for months; parliament toppled the centrist government on Tuesday.

Vaccination coverage in Romania is not sufficient to limit the effects of the fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, warned Valeriu Gheorghiță, coordinator of the vaccination campaign. The country is lagging far behind with only 28.4% of the population fully vaccinated compared to 70% of the overall European population. The same Gheorghiță told media on Thursday that “Romania is the new Lombardy” and the health system about to collapse.

Romania’s main cities, where on average one in every 100 dwellers is now infected, put in place new restrictions, including a curfew specifically for the unvaccinated, a measure that met with a large protest in the capital last weekend. Hopes are pinned on a lottery-scheme designed to entice poor Romanians to get vaccinated in return for the chance to win money.

On Monday non-essential surgeries in public hospitals were suspended for thirty days, reported HotNews. Health authorities requested the EU for help with medical supplies, specifically 12,700 vials of the anti-covid medicine Tocilizumab and oxygen concentrators, by activating the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, reports POLITICO. Neighbouring Hungary has offered assistance in treating COVID-19 patients, Hungary’s Foreign Ministry told The Associated Press.