Radio România Internațional

Tag: immunity

  • February 9, 2022

    February 9, 2022

    COVID-19 In
    Romania 27,346 new SARS-CoV-2 infections were reported on Wednesday, fewer than
    on the previous day, and 176 related deaths, 5 of them from a previous date.
    According to experts, who have identified the Omicron variant of the coronavirus
    in all sequenced samples, Romania may have achieved herd immunity and the fifth pandemic wave is quite likely to end in spring. The vaccination rate
    remains very low, and the number of fully vaccinated citizens is little over 8
    million.


    CONFERENCE The Romanian health minister Alexandru Rafila takes part today and
    tomorrow in a joint conference of EU foreign and health ministers on global
    health and in an informal meeting of EU health ministers, due in Lyon and Grenoble (France). The 2 events are organised by the French
    presidency of the EU Council. The participants will discuss the EU measures to
    support developing countries in accessing medicines in the context of the COVID-19
    pandemic, and to strengthen national healthcare systems. The informal meeting
    of health ministers will focus on the intervention and resilience of public
    health systems in case of crises, and on the joint development of policies to
    create a ‘Union of health.’


    MOTION The Chamber of Deputies in
    Bucharest Wednesday dismissed the simple motion tabled by the opposition party USR
    against the Liberal minister for energy Virgil Popescu, with 98 votes in favour
    and 190 against. According to the authors, Popescu is a threat to Romania’s
    energy security and must be dismissed immediately. The motion was scheduled for
    debates on Monday, but the meeting was suspended after the co-president of the
    nationalist party AUR, George Simion, assaulted the energy minister during his
    address. The meeting was subsequently resumed, but with only the opposition MPs from AUR and USR in attendance. Virgil
    Popescu and the MPs from the ruling coalition left the hall in protest. Prosecutors
    have opened a criminal case with respect to the incident.


    ECONOMY Romania’s trade balance deficit in 2021 amounted to EUR 23.69
    billion, over EUR 5.3 billion higher than in 2020, according to data released
    on Wednesday by the National Statistics Institute. Last year exports totalled
    EUR 74.7 billion and imports over EUR 98 billion.
    Official data also reveal that in 2021, vehicle and transport equipment
    accounted for 44.9% of Romania’s exports and 35.2% of imports, with other
    manufactured products also accounting for large shares of the country’s foreign
    trade.


    UKRAINE International diplomatic efforts continue with a view to deescalate
    the Russia-Ukraine standoff. The president of France Emmanuel Macron called for
    a dynamic dialogue with Russia, which he sees as the only way to make peace in
    Ukraine possible. Macron discussed with the Russian leader Vladimir Putin in
    Moscow and with his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv, and
    voiced confidence that progress will be made in the peace talks, but
    warned that risks still exist and that months of negotiations will be needed. In
    turn, president Volodymyr Zelensky said he was looking forward to resuming
    Normandy Format negotiations with Russia, brokered by France and Germany. He
    also insisted that president Putin complied with the Minsk agreements, whose
    main clause concerns the sovereignty of Ukraine. The Russian-Ukrainian tensions
    were also discussed on Tuesday in Berlin by the German chancellor Olaf Scholz with
    the presidents of France Emmanuel Macron and of Poland, Andrzej Duda. Germany,
    France and Poland are united in their goal of preserving peace in Europe,
    said the German chancellor, who is to travel to Moscow next week.


    TENNIS The Romanian player Sorana
    Cirstea today takes on seed no. 2 Anett Kontaveit of Estonia in the round of 16
    of the WTA 500 tournament in Sankt Petersburg (Russia). Two other Romanians, Irina
    Begu and Jaqueline Cristian will play tomorrow in the same round, against Petra
    Kvitova of the Czech Republic and Aleksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, respectively. (A.M.P.)

  • Four million Romanians vaccinated

    Four million Romanians vaccinated


    Romania has over 4 million citizens who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccines approved and used in the EU: Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson&Johnson.




    The coordinator of the national vaccination campaign Valeriu Gheorghiţă said that in August according to experts the country will reach a “herd immunity threshold of 50% of the people either vaccinated or having recovered from the disease. He emphasized that authorities want to step up the vaccine rollout so as to reach the 5-million target by the end of May, 6 million in July and 7 million people vaccinated by late August.




    Valeriu Gheorghiţă added that although current infection figures are good, this positive trend must be consolidated if the country is to avoid a relapse after the gradual lifting of restrictions.




    As of late, Romania has stepped up its vaccine rollout, with people able to get a jab without needing a prior appointment and with new methods being introduced, such as vaccination marathons in major cities, drive-thru vaccination centres, mobile vaccination units travelling to large companies and vaccination caravans in remote, isolated areas. Immunization by family physicians has also grown substantially.




    The combined vaccination rate is now around 100,000 jabs per day, with any person able to get one in any centre, without prior appointment, based on ID alone. This simple and efficient method has attracted many of the Romanians living abroad, who travelled back to the country for this special purpose. We must bring the vaccine closer to people, president Klaus Iohannis said on Tuesday:




    Klaus Iohannis: “The successful vaccination of as many Romanians as possible is the prerequisite for fully reopening all social and economic sectors and for building post-pandemic Romania. Mayors and other local authorities, regardless of their political complexion, must be actively involved in the vaccination campaign. So far we have been successful mostly in urban communities. This is why it is important to step up the rollout in rural areas, because access to vaccines is more difficult there. People must be informed, in smaller localities local officials should even go from door to door to tell people how important it is to get the vaccine.




    The head of state warned that a prospective danger is that, as the disease is gradually contained, some people may think the worst is over and that there is no point in getting the vaccine. This is a misguided sense of security. Until a substantial number of us have got the vaccine, the pandemic is not over, and the risk for the unvaccinated to develop a severe form of the disease remains high, Klaus Iohannis warned. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • Deputies Reject Call for the Prosecution of PM Victor Ponta

    Deputies Reject Call for the Prosecution of PM Victor Ponta

    Charged with
    conflict of interests while in office, PM Victor Ponta retained the immunity
    that he benefits from, as a Deputy. 231 of his fellow MPs, members of the
    ruling coalition made up of the Social Democratic Party, the Conservatives, the
    National Union for the Progress of Romania and the Reformed Liberal Party,
    voted against the request filed by anti-corruption prosecutors, and only 120
    MPs, from the opposition, voted in favor. The result came as no surprise. Ever
    since Friday, when the National Anti-corruption Directorate announced its
    decision to prosecute Ponta, members of the Social Democratic Party and of the
    Government have voiced their solidarity with and loyalty for a prime minister
    that they see as the victim of political maneuvering. To President Klaus
    Iohannis, on the other hand, the vote in the Chamber of Deputies was a proof of
    irresponsibility and disregard for citizens. Klaus Iohannis:


    To
    destroy institutions and principles in order to rescue one person is, in my
    opinion, unacceptable in a democracy. What are the common citizens to
    understand now? That anyone who is charged with criminal offences may be
    prosecuted and tried, but a prime minister cannot, because he is backed by a
    parliamentary majority? What are we to understand now? That there are two
    Romanias, one for ordinary people and one for Mr. Ponta?


    Victor Ponta has
    no respect for the law and for the Romanians, the co-president of the National
    Liberal Party, Alina Gorghiu, also said.


    The head of
    government however says that the solution to this crisis is for him to present
    to prosecutors all the data they have requested, and that the Cabinet should be
    allowed to do its job. Ponta also claims that the strong calls for his
    resignation coming from President Iohannis are actually fuelled by the head of
    state’s plans to bring the Liberals in power. Victor Ponta:


    The
    political battle is back on a stage that we all remember, the game of criminal
    cases. And on Friday it was my turn. Why, when everything goes well, when
    everybody praises Romania, must we go back several years and rehash the battle
    of criminal accusations, to have Ponta out and Gorghiu in?


    For the time
    being, the PM cannot be prosecuted for conflict of interests, but prosecutors
    may carry on the investigation of criminal offences such as forgery, tax
    evasion and money laundering, which he presumably committed about ten years
    ago, when he was a lawyer.


    The new
    political and judicial scandal in Bucharest has had its echoes in Western
    capitals as well. The American Embassy in Bucharest says in a statement that
    accusations against government officials should be investigated without
    interference. The British diplomats in Bucharest also emphasized the need for
    judicial institutions to be allowed to act with impartiality and full
    independence, while their Dutch colleagues warn that the developments in
    Parliament reveal problems related to the attitude regarding justice and
    corruption in Romania.