A red alert was issued for five villages of Ocnița district in connection with the spread of COVID-19. These are Lencăuți, Gîrbova, Bîrlădeni, Verejeni and Sauca. The decision was adopted by the Ocnița Local Extraordinary Public Health Commission on February 22, IPN reports.

In these localities, the shopping centers on Saturdays and Sundays, except for units that sell food products and drugstores located inside them, will not work. Until March 9, the shopping centers and farmers’ markets in the towns of Ocnița and Otaci and in all the villages of Ocnița district will be closed. The urban passenger transport service in Ocnița town remains suspended until March 4.

Under the same decision, the schools and kindergartens will switch over to online learning.

Given the rise in the number of infected people, the Intensive Care Unit of the Ocnița District Hospital was turned into a COVID-19 unit.

As many as 430 cases of COVID-19 were recorded in Ocnița district by February 21, 305 of which in February alone. The number of deaths from the infection rose by 85% the past week.