COVID-19 Romania has
so far confirmed 9 infections with COVID-19, the Group of Strategic
Communication in Bucharest has announced. Three of the people infected have
been declared cured and have left hospitals but the other 6 people are still being
treated in medical centers in Timisoara, western Romania, Cluj Napoca, in the
north-west, Iasi, in the east, and Craiova, in southern Romania. 16 people have
been quarantined and other 13 thousand are isolated at home. Almost 6 thousand
infections with the new coronavirus have been reported in Europe, most of the
cases in Italy, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom. China, the
country where the virus was first discovered in December, has reported 28 new
cases but no infection has been discovered in the Hubei province, the epicenter
of the coronavirus outbreak, for the second day in a row. WHO has reiterated its
appeal that all the countries should make containment of the coronavirus outbreak their top
priority. The virus has so far made it to 97 countries infecting over 100
thousand people.
GOVERNMENT The Romanian Parliament will next week set a date for
the investiture vote for the cabinet led by Prime Minister Designate Florin
Catu. A joint session could be scheduled next Friday at the latest. 16 proposed
ministers have been interviewed this week and nine of them got endorsement. The
Catu cabinet has to muster 233 votes for Parliament support. We recall the
first Liberal government, led by Ludovic Orban (leader of the National Liberal
Party) has been sacked through a no-confidence vote. Orban’s second appointment
was contested at the Constitutional Court by his Social Democratic opponents
and the court, which took into consideration the declared intentions of the
Liberals and the president to trigger snap elections and not to get a
Parliament majority for the investiture vote, eventually ruled against Orban’s second
appointment.
MIGRATION Turkey is repatriating
the Syrian migrants at the border with Greece after a ceasefire for the Syrian
province of Idlib was signed by the Turkish and Russian presidents, Recep
Erdogan and Vladimir Putin respectively. Authorities in Ankara have already
informed the migrants that the EU border has been closed down and that buses
have been made available to take them to Istanbul and from there back to Syria.
However the Greek border forces remain on high alert after Turkish Interior
Minister Suleyman Soylu on Friday announced Ankara’s intention to deploy 1,000
policemen along the Evros River at the border with Greece in order to prevent
Athens from rejecting the migrants attempting to cross it. Romania’s interim
Interior Minister Marcel Vela has informed the Greek authorities that Romania
will increase the number of border police and their equipment in Greece. So,
besides the 21 border police already stationed in Greece, Romania decided to
add 8 more for the ground monitoring as well as a patrol ship with 24 crew
members and two experts as part of the operational assistance plan for Greece,
carried out under the aegis of the European Asylum Support Office.
TENNIS According
to the WTA webpage, the world’s no. 2 tennis player Simona Halep of Romania has
withdrawn from the Indian Wells tennis tournament due to begin in California
next week to recover from injuries. In 2015 Halep won her first Premier
Mandatory title in Indian Wells after a finals win against Jelena Jankovic of
Serbia. Last year’s finalist Angelique Kerber of Germany has also announced her
intention not to participate for the same reason. This year’s edition of the
prestigious sporting event will bring together 73 of the world’s best 80
players.
(translated by bill)