BUCHAREST, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Romanian Prime Minister Florin Citu on Friday likened the activities of those who undermine the authorities' efforts to control the COVID-19 pandemic to acts of terrorism.

"In Romania, there has been a campaign for a year against the government's actions to stop the pandemic," Citu said at a press briefing here. "There is a campaign against wearing masks in public places, there is a campaign against distancing measures, and a campaign against vaccination.

"These actions are similar to those of certain terrorists, because preventing the government's activities aimed at improving the health of all Romanians is an action that seeks to undermine the authority of the state," the prime minister said.

Citu called his compatriots to always listen to the specialists, stressing "that's where the information comes from."

Romania reported 5,010 new COVID-19 cases on Friday -- the third day this year when the daily infection count exceeded 5,000. The country's cumulative caseload now stands at 850,362.

The authorities hope to alleviate the pandemic by stepping up the vaccination campaign that started on Dec. 27, 2020.

To date, 2,069,143 vaccine doses have been administered to 1,375,594 people. Of them, 682,045 have received the first dose and 693,549 the second dose as well.

Currently, three vaccines are authorized for use in the country -- those produced by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca.

Globally, 263 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide -- 81 of them in clinical trials -- in countries including Germany, China, Russia, Britain, and the United States, according to the World Health Organization's latest count.