Regina Maria Frigate ends its NATO mission from The Mediterranean earlier than it was scheduled, because of a significant number of infected soldiers with SARS CoV-2 virus.
Starting October 27th, the ship had been participating in a naval traffic monitoring mission, in The Eastern Mediterranean, as part of the NATO SNMG-2 (Standing NATO Maritime Group).

On November 10th, the results of the tests confirmed that a significant number of soldiers had been infected with the new corona-virus. For this reason, the Romanian Naval Forces Staff decided to end the participation of the frigate in the NATO missions in The Mediterranean and return back into the country. The health status of the military personnel infected with Covid 19 is good, the soldiers having no symptoms.
The medical situation began on Saturday, November 7th, while the ship was on sea, nearby Aksaz Harbour, from the Southern Turkey, when two solders onboard presented symptoms specific to the COVID-19 disease. The doctor onboard applied standard operational procedures for these types of situations, the two soldiers being isolated and receiving specific medical care. Afterwards, the soldiers were repatriated on November 8th with a Romanian Air Force C-27J Spartan aircraft. They were hospitalized in the MoND medical facilities one of them having the COVID-19 test positive and hospitalized at ROL 2 Mobile Military Hospital from Otopeni, the other one getting a negative result to the SARS CoV-2 test.

On November 8th, the frigate docked at the Aksaz Military Base, for the rebuilding of the combat capability and the appliance of medical measures in order to prevent the spread of the new corona-virus. Thus, on November 9th, the entire crew of Regina Maria Frigate was retested (RT-PCR) in order to seek for other possible infections with the Sars-Cov-2; the interior spaces onboard of the ship were disinfected and special rooms were prepared for the isolation and treatment of the asymptomatic or easy cases of the disease.

At the arrival in Constanta Harbour, the entire crew will be placed under quarantine and isolation, and the health of the soldiers will be permanently monitored. If the health status of the crew members requires, additional measures will be taken and the personnel will be hospitalized in medical treatment units, according to the national procedures in force.

The human resource is permanently in the attention of the Romanian Naval Forces and the care for the subordinate personnel and for their families stays a priority. The Romanian Naval Forces continue to adapt their methods and procedures to the current sanitary context caused by the COVID-19 pandemics and the Romanian soldiers apply all necessary measures in order to accomplish the NATO security objectives at high standards to ensure the protection of Allied community.

The Press Office