The swimming pools will be closed on August 1 and will remain closed until the state of public health emergency is in effect, the National Extraordinary Public Health Commission decided on July 31, IPN reports.

At the start of the meeting, Prime Minister Ion Chicu said the relaxation of restrictions resulted in an immediate rise in the number of cases of COVID-19. Not all the business entities obey the sanitary and epidemiological rules and the largest number of violations were identified at places of recreation, primarily where there are swimming pools. A large number of people are allowed there and hotbeds of infection appear as a result.

According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection, over 24,000 infections with the novel coronavirus have been confirmed in Moldova so far. The death toll from COVID-19 stands at 771.