Romanian newspapers on Friday focus on the latest events in the bird flu crisis that has spread across the country with about a dozen human suspects – all tested negative in preliminary investigations.

A chronology of President Basescu’s fight with hernia leads to surprising revelations. One newspapers reports on the death of two infants at the hand of their foster mothers. And the coming of the “Da Vinci Code” movie to Bucharest screens is hailed with considerable skepticism among Romanian critics.

No less than 11 Romanians were hospitalized this week under suspicion of infection with the bird flu virus, compared to the total of 13 reported during the first bird flu wave which hit the country starting last autumn, according to Evenimentul Zilei.

The newspaper says all cases reported after the outbreak at a chicken farm in Central Romania tested negative, but the tests will be repeated to avoid any risks.

Evenimentul Zilei also reports that potential or tested bird flu cases were identified in several major cities and towns across the country over the past couple of days, including Ploiesti and Brasov. And with close to 20 confirmed hotbeds, authorities keep a watchful eye on dozens of villages, towns and cities in all parts of the country.

Gandul reports that the head of a Bucharest veterinary institution was placed under criminal investigation following the newspaper’s recent report that he made a fortune by abusing his position in cases related to bird flu and other animal diseases.

Stefan Nicolae is charged with arranging a tender for the procurement of a verterinary kit so that public funds were diverted to a firm owned by his son.

And the newspaper quotes Romanian Health minister Eugen Nicolaescu, who said yesterday that a “bird flu pandemic was inevitable”.

Stefan Nicolae’s case is also tackled in Cotidianul, which also writes that the manager of the Drakom Codlea farm where the most recent outbreak originated risks ten years behind bars for ignoring a ban on sales of H5-infected chicken.

Elsewhere in the newspapers, Adevarul reports that one child died and another is in coma in the Romanian city of Buzau, due to the negligence of the two maternal assistants caring after them.

The two children – abandoned by their natural mothers and placed by the Romanian state in the care of maternal assistants – suffered terrible injuries at their foster homes due to the lack of interest from their new mothers.

A fact which, according to Adevarul, proves how “professional” the maternal assistants that the Romanian state trained, tested and paid are.

Meanwhile, Evenimentul Zilei investigates the chain of events that saw Romanian President Traian Basescu undergoing a surgical intervention for hernia in an Austrian clinic last week.

As the head of state has been transferred to a Romanian hospital earlier this week, the newspaper reports that Basescu risked hernia had the surgery taken place just a bit later.

That is because the hernia – apparently, not treated for years – had become huge and while the President spent one day at his home in Bucharest, deciding whether to go to a Bucharest hospital or elsewhere. And it was painfully pushing his nerves, a situation which, if not tackled, might lead to paralysis.

The same Evenimentul Zilei also reports that the Da Vinci Code movie received harsh words from Romanian film critics when it was first screened in Romania.

None of the critics quoted by the newspapers says the movie is worth more than two out of five stars, as except lead actor Tom Hank’s performance the movie is “dull”, “too long” and “boring” as it loses itself in naivete and intensive rhetoric.