Romania's president, Klaus Iohannis, has announced that from May 15th 2021, people will no longer be required to wear masks when in outdoor spaces, and traffic restrictions at night will no longer be applied.

This marks the first stage of easing the restrictions from this weekend. The decision will be finalised in a meeting with the National Committee for Emergency Situations on May 14th 2021.

“We have prepared a calendar with relaxation measures, which includes the entire summer period, we are preparing for relaxation. But we do not want to relax in June, to return to restrictions in August. We will have a step-by-step relaxation, the relaxations are conditioned by the evolution of the pandemic and the degree of vaccination“, said Klaus Iohannis during the announcement.

However, as mentioned, there are some exceptions, and these are primarily for fairs, markets, public transport stations and other crowded areas.

He also added that outdoor sport activities can now have spectators with up to 25% of the seating capacity, and that from June 1st 2021, indoor capacity will increase for restaurants.

Traffic restrictions are lifted at night, and commercial operators will no longer have a limited schedule either.

Also, from June 1st, it will be possible to organise weddings, baptisms or ‘festive meals' outdoors with a maximum of 70 attendees, and indoors with a max of 50. Capacity for these will also begin to increase between July and August.

If the organiser of an event or gathering guarantees that all participants are vaccinated, the restriction on the number of participants is waived.

He stressed, that in order to continue on this path, people must continue to get vaccinated and keep up the pace, which has picked up in the recent weeks.