Romania has reported record numbers of daily coronavirus deaths and infections, as a hospital system stretched to breaking point by the European Union's second-lowest vaccination rate ran out of intensive care beds.

New infections in the preceding 24 hours have topped 18,800 while 574 people died of the virus, official data shows, according to Reuters.

With emergency beds fully occupied across the country, television footage from Bucharest hospitals shows patients lying on mattresses on the floor or holding oxygen tanks on crowded benches in hallways.

Morgues are also running at full capacity.