Covid -19 ▪ 54 new cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been registered in the past 24 hours, out of more than 24,500 tests, the Strategic Communication Group reported. Also, only one person has died of COVID-19 in the mentioned period. Most of the newly confirmed cases were registered in the counties of Dolj, Iaşi and Satu Mare. In Bucharest, 4 new cases were reported. 311 infected people are still in hospital, of whom 58 in intensive care. At the same time, 21,992 people are in home quarantine and 34 in institutionalized quarantine, and 2,024 are in home isolation while 670 in institutionalized isolation. The Romanian government approved the extension of the state of alert across the country for another 30 days, starting with July 12. On the other hand, the head of the vaccination campaign, Valeriu Gheorghiţă, pointed out that, as of mid-August, the number of COVID-19 cases in Romania might increase, due to the new Delta virus strain. 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.
Summit ▪ “Romania remains firmly committed to the Three Seas Initiative, through pragmatic action, and it will support concrete solutions to reduce gaps and strengthen resilience in the region,” the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis stated at the organization summit held in Sofia. He attended the summit, which brings together 12 EU member states, located between the Baltic Sea, the Adriatic Sea and the Black Sea. President Iohannis spoke about the special attention that Romania attaches to the projects Rail-2-Sea and Via Carpathia, which are concrete initiatives with a major economic importance and with a real strategic value for the region. The Three Seas Initiative’s development at parliamentary, local and regional levels, which adds to the initiative’s intergovernmental dimension, is quite welcome. The final target of all these efforts, however, remains the rigorous implementation of the Initiative’s priority strategic interconnection projects in three basic areas – transport, energy and digitalization, the Romanian president pointed out. The participants adopted a joint statement which reiterates ‘the firm commitment’ to the Three Seas Initiative and hails the progress made at the summits so far. The participants also welcomed ‘the strong and uninterrupted support of the organization’s partners: the United States, Germany and the European Commission.
Festival ▪ The Sibiu International Theater Festival (FITS), one of the largest festivals in the world and the largest event dedicated to the performing arts in Romania, will present, between August 20-29, over 600 events performed by artists from 37 countries, from all continents. According to the organizers, this is going to be the most complex edition held so far. This years edition of the Sibiu Theater Festival, whose theme is “Building hope together” – will have a threefold dimension: physical, hybrid and online. The event is aimed at building hope together with its audience which will watch a genuine feast of the performing arts, with theater, dance, circus, film, musical and opera productions as well as book launches, conferences, exhibitions, performance, music, and street shows. Israel Galván Company, Charlotte Rampling, Tokyo Metropolitan Theater, Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company, María Pagés Compańía are some of the world’s great artists and companies that will participate in the 2021 Sibiu International Theater Festival.
Baccalaureate ▪ The Baccalaureate exam pass rate in Romania, after the resolution of appeals, is almost 70%, the Romanian Education Minister Sorin Câmpeanu announced. He showed that over 50 thousand marks were modified, some even with 3 or 4 points. A number of almost 2,500 students have passed the Baccalaureate after the resolution of appeals. The total number of candidates who passed the exam stands at around 89 thousand, from both the current and previous year.
Olympics – Postponed by a year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2020 Olympic Games in Japan will be the first in history to take place largely behind closed doors. The move follows the Japanese governments decision to restore the state of emergency, the 4th since the beginning of the pandemic, in Tokyo until August 22, as the Games begin on July 23 and end on August 8. A little over 15% of Japans population has been fully vaccinated so far, and experts fear that the Delta variant might bring about another wave that could overwhelm Japanese hospitals. The Olympic flame arrived in Tokyo on Friday for a ceremony held on an empty stadium. It was carried in a lantern and symbolically handed over to Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike. (LS)
