TOLL 265 new cases of infection with
the new coronavirus have been registered in Romania of late raising the total
number to 5467, the Group of Strategic Communication announced on Friday. The
virus has so far killed 270 people whereas 729 have been declared healed and
were allowed to leave hospitals. Health minister Nelu Tataru told a private TV
channel that at this moment the number of those infected could be around 10-12
thousand, but this number can change in the following two weeks, which are
considered ‘difficult’. 42 Romanians have been killed by the virus abroad. 684
Romanian nationals have been confirmed infected with the new virus abroad.
DECREE A new
military decree has been issued in Romania, where a state of emergency is in
place, banning the export of a number of products such as wheat, barley, oats,
corn, wheat flour, sunflower oil, sugar and bakery products. The decree also
allows produce markets to stay open for the duration of the state of emergency,
given the upcoming Catholic Easter this weekend and the Orthodox Easter next
weekend. In the run-up to the Easter holidays, shops are also allowed to extend
their opening hours. Interior minister Marcel Vela, who presented the new
decree, used the opportunity to again call on the population to respect social
distancing guidelines and on the Romanians living abroad not to travel to
Romania for the Easter holidays.
WORKERS
Romanian Prime Minister Ludovic Orban told a public TV station that between
80,000 and 90,000 Romanian nationals may travel abroad for work in the coming
period. He explained these are employment contracts agreed between Romanian
citizens and foreign companies, such as from Germany, Italy, Spain, Austria and
the Netherlands, especially in the farming sector. Orban criticised, however,
the manager of the Cluj Napoca airport, in the north-west of the country, who
did not inform the authorities about the departure of 2,000 seasonal workers to
Germany on Thursday, which led to chaos on the airport and infringement of
coronavirus restrictions. Flights due to leave on Friday from Iasi, in the east
of the country, and supposed to take 400 Romanian workers to Germany, were
cancelled. The measure was taken in keeping with a military decree banning
assemblies in public spaces. The airport management had previously asked the
security forces to help enforce social distancing rules to prevent a situation
like that in Cluj.
MEASURES EU
finance ministers have agreed on an emergency rescue package for the member
states worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic. Over 500 billion euros are made
available to help workers, businesses and governments. The agreement was
reached after talks in Brussels, which press agencies say were made difficult
by the divisions between the northern nations, especially the Dutch, and the
countries in the south of Europe, which were worst hit by the outbreak and
whose economies are more fragile. Italy and Spain have called for access to
funds that they can spend as they see fit, while the Dutch insisted on strict
conditions. A compromise was reached in the end, with the emergency package
also making available a consolidated credit line of 240 billion euros, with
countries being able to borrow up to 2% of their GDPs.
INFLATION The annual inflation rate in Romania stayed at 3% in March, while the
prices of food products grew by 5.11%, that of services by 3.8% and that of
non-food products by 1.39%, according to a report by the National Institute for
Statistics. The National Bank forecasts an inflation rate of 3% for the whole
year.