Romania’s health minister Victor Costache resigned on Thursday morning, March 26, prime minister Ludovic Orban announced in a press statement. The resignation comes in the middle of the biggest medical crisis Romania has faced in recent history, caused by the new coronavirus pandemic.

“I have been informed of this resignation,” PM Orban said. “I regret the minister’s resignation but I also understand it and I thank him for the collaboration,” he added, Romania Insider reads.

According to sources quoted by the local media, Orban himself asked Victor Costache to resign.

PM Orban said his proposal for the health minister seat is Nelu Tataru, a state secretary within the Health Ministry, who “has been in the front line in the fight against the new coronavirus” and is familiar with the strategy.