The airlines in the period between March 11 and end-March are obliged not to allow persons of other nationalities than the Moldovan one, except for stateless persons and foreigners with the residence in Moldova, to go on board in Italy, Iran, China and South Korea, either the trips include layovers or not. The decision was taken by the National Extraordinary Commission for Public Health in a move to prevent the import and spread of the COVID-19, IPN reports.

“We do not close air traffic to citizens from the Republic of Moldova. It was suggested closing it fully, but we analyzed the possible consequences. If so, our citizens will come by road from Italy. This way, a group of people who can be infected will be in a bus or another unit of transport for 48 hours and the risk in such a case is bigger,” Prime Minister Ion Chicu stated in the Commission’s meeting in the evening of March 9.

The officials discussed the necessity of a bill to amend the Contravention Code and the Penal Code so as to stipulate penalties for those who indicate false fata in the epidemiological forms filled out when entering Moldova and for those who do not respect the quarantine regime and consciously spread the disease or infection. The bill is to be approved by the Cabinet on March 11 and will be then submitted to Parliament.

Given the epidemiological developments in Romania and Ukraine, it was considered the opportunity of suspending the education process in schools between March 11 and March 15. The health specialists pleaded against, saying the students are not in the risk group. It was thus decided not to stop the education process for now.

Minister of Education, Culture and Research Corneliu Popovici noted that the situation in educational institutions is monitored daily. The presence of children at school enables to better supervise them. The suspension of the education process can be decided later, depending on the development of the epidemiological situation.

Minister of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment Ion Perju said the international exhibition “Moldagrotech”, scheduled from March 11-14, 2020, was cancelled given that this event involves a large number of participants and visitors. The previous exhibit was visited by about 17,000 people.

Minister of Health, Labor and Social Protection Viorica Dumbrăveanu said the woman diagnosed with the novel coronavirus started to feel better. Samples taken from seven persons suspected of being infected are now being tested in the lab. A call was made to the people who enter the country to complete the standard epidemiological forms so that swift measures could be taken if the presence of the virus is confirmed.

According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, 109,695 cases of infection with the COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide by March 09, 2020. The death toll stands at 3,811.