Radio România Internațional

Tag: Delta strain

  • Anti-COVID measures

    Anti-COVID measures

    The most contagious strain of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus detected so far, the Delta variant, which is at the origin of the devastating wave of COVID-19 cases in India, is spreading, which has prompted world authorities to take action to counter a 4th wave of the pandemic. In Israel, for instance, vaccination with the 3rd dose has been launched for people with immunity problems, and, in France, the most important measure to fight the Delta variant, announced by President Emmanuel Macron, refers to compulsory vaccination for healthcare and non-healthcare workers in hospitals, clinics and nursing homes, as well as for professional and voluntary staff involved in the care of the elderly, including at home.



    After France, Greece has announced the same measure for the medical staff, starting on September 1. In Romania, the Delta variant appeared a few weeks ago, and the first death associated with it was registered in the second half of June. Meanwhile, the number of such cases and associated deaths has slightly increased, and the authorities continue to call for the peoples vaccination. The medical staff that refuses to be vaccinated against COVID could pay for the tests from their own pockets, Prime Minister Florin Cîțu said on Tuesday, when answering the question whether the executive is considering the measure of compulsory immunization of the medical staff or of the employees involved in the care of the elderly.



    Florin Cîțu: “Romania has the lowest infection rate in Europe. Regarding vaccination of the medical staff, we propose to test those who do not want to be vaccinated and have them pay for the test. This is the proposal I made to the Health Ministry officials.”



    The move is caused by fears regarding the possibility of a 4th wave emerging in Romania, even if, at present, the positive test rate stands somewhere around 0.3% and the medical system no longer has to work under the pressure of a very large number of infected people.



    In another move, as of Tuesday, passengers arriving at the Henri Coandă Airport from countries on the yellow list and holding a EU digital COVID certificate or a PCR test can use the green flow corridor, without being checked by the Public Health Directorate employees. The same corridor can be used by those who come from the red-list countries but hold a certificate. The Bucharest Airports National Company specified that the digital certificates issued by Great Britain or by non-EU countries are not valid and recommends passengers arriving from countries on the red or yellow lists to fill in, in due time, the form requested by the Romanian health authorities. The form can be downloaded from the airlines websites or from the website of the Romanian Foreign Ministry. (LS)

  • Strategies to boost vaccination

    Strategies to boost vaccination

    Daily figures of COVID-19
    infection in Romanian remain low, much like most of the last few weeks. The
    number of people diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 is in the dozens at national level. Many
    counties across the country have been reporting no new cases of infection, and the
    incidence rate is 0.3%. Hospitals are no longer overrun, intensive care units
    are no longer facing mounting pressure from the large number of patients, and
    the death toll is low. Even so, experts and the authorities alike fear the Delta
    strain of COVID-19 might become dominant and spread fast across the world. There
    is growing talk of a fourth wave of the pandemic, which is likely to hit
    Romania as well this autumn. Lawmakers say the only way to effectively
    counteract the dangerous effects of this new virus strain is to get as many
    people as possible vaccinated, despite a significant slowdown in the
    immunization campaign. In an effort to breathe new life into it, the
    coordinator of the campaign, medical doctor Valeriu
    Gheorghiță, launched a series of talks with experts regarding the importance of
    vaccination. Cătălin Ţucureanu, an immunology and vaccinology scientific
    researcher with the Cantacuzino Institute in Bucharest, believes the best
    strategy to stop the spread of the virus is for people to complete the
    vaccination scheme.


    The higher the vaccination
    rate, the easier it is to keep the pandemic in check. If we look at Great
    Britain, we can see a rising spread of the Delta strain, both in the
    unvaccinated population, as well as in that part of the population that got
    only one shot of the vaccine. Delta-strain infections already account for a
    third of total cases reported in January. In South Africa, a country with a 5-7%
    vaccination coverage, the Delta strain has already triggered a new wave of
    infections.


    Right now, approximately a
    quarter of Romania’s population is vaccinated against COVID-19, most people
    having completed the full vaccination scheme. This is a long shot from the 70%
    target set by the authorities in spring. To convince more people to get
    immunized, the authorities are setting up on-the-go vaccination centers in all
    sorts of venues. A drive-through center will open on July 17 at 2,145-m
    altitude on one of the Romania’s most spectacular roads, Transalpina. The first
    50 people to get immunized will also receive concert tickets. (VP)

  • July 8, 2021 UPDATE

    July 8, 2021 UPDATE

    COVID-19 ROMANIA – The Romanian
    government has approved, at the proposal of the National Committee for
    Emergency Situations, the extension of the state of alert across Romania for
    another 30 days, starting July 12. The prevention and control measures in force
    at the moment will continue to be applied, with some changes. The most
    important is the extension from 90 to 180 days of the period of exemption from
    these measures for those persons who have already had the infection. On the
    other hand, the head of the vaccination campaign, Valeriu Gheorghiţă, has drawn
    attention to the fact that, as of mid-August, the number of COVID-19 cases in
    Romania will increase due to the new ‘Delta’ virus strain and he has again
    called for the population to get vaccinated. Since the beginning of the
    vaccination campaign in Romania, in December last year, almost 4.8 million
    people have been vaccinated, of whom about 4.6 million with both doses. 30 new
    cases of contamination and 3 deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours,
    and 57 patients are in ICUs.




    COVID-19 WORLD – Dozens of
    new cases of infection with the ‘Delta’ strain of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and one
    case of ‘Beta’ infection have been identified in Bulgaria, Romania’s neighbor.
    In Japan, the Government announced a state of emergency amidst the growing
    number of COVID-19 infections. As a result, the Tokyo Olympics, a competition
    that is set to begin in two weeks’ time, will unfold without crowd attendance.
    The Delta strain of the novel coronavirus, first identified in India, continues
    to spread rapidly around the world. The Australian city of Sydney on Wednesday
    recorded the highest number of new cases this year, South Korea reported the
    highest rate since the onset of the pandemic, and a study published in London shows
    that the number of infections in England has increased 4 times since June until
    now. Spain saw an increase in the number of new cases, especially among young
    people. 1% of young people between 20 and 24 who have been infected should be
    hospitalized – the Spanish authorities have warned. Globally, more than 185
    million cases of infection have been reported so far and at least 4 million people
    have died, according to worldometers.info.
    Most cases and deaths were recorded in the United States, India and Brazil.




    DISMISSAL –
    Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis on Thursday signed the decree dismissing
    Finance Minister, Alexandru Nazare. Under the same decree, Prime Minister Florin
    Cîţu will take over as interim Finance Minister. Prime Minister Cîţu explained
    that, upon evaluating the activity of the finance ministry, he discovered
    delays of some important projects which are aimed at eliminating tax evasion
    and attracting European funds. Nazare is the second Minister sacked by the
    ruling PNL-USR-PLUS-UDMR coalition after former Health Minister, Vlad
    Voiculescu.




    3SI – The
    economies of countries in Central and Eastern Europe will grow faster than
    those of countries in Western Europe over the next years, IMF Director
    Kristalina Georgieva said on Thursday on the sidelines of the Three Seas
    Initiative (3SI) summit hosted by Sofia, Bulgaria. The IMF official said the
    combined GDP of the 12 3SI member states could this year return to the level
    reported before the pandemic. The organization is a flexible, informal
    political platform at presidential level, bringing together the 12 EU member
    states located between the Baltic Sea, the Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea.
    Romania is represented by President Klaus Iohannis, who will emphasize the
    importance of implementing priority strategic interconnection projects, with a
    focus on projects of high interest for Romania, namely Rail2Sea ​​and Via
    Carpatia. From Bucharest’s standpoint, these projects are essential for the
    Initiative to really bring about long-term economic development, and to make
    the economy of participating states more strategically resilient. We recall
    that Bucharest hosted the Three Seas Initiative summit in September 2018.




    UKRAINE – On the sidelines of Ukraine Reform
    Conference, organized in hybrid format in Vilnius, Foreign Minister, Bogdan
    Aurescu, said Romania continues to support the sovereignty and territorial
    integrity of this country, reiterating Bucharest’s firm commitment to oppose
    the illegal annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation. Bogdan Aurescu said
    Romania supports Ukraine’s European track and its process of comprehensive and
    inclusive reforms, based on the country’s commitments under the Association
    Agreement signed with the European Union. Ukraine Reform Conference is an
    international annual event organized since 2017, bringing together officials
    from Ukraine and partner states, representatives of the EU, NATO and G7, of the
    business community and civil society. (LS & VP)