Radio România Internațional

Tag: reopening

  • Back to school!

    Back to school!

    Nearly two-thirds out of the over 3 million students
    and pre-schoolers in Romania are returning to schools on Monday, after a 2-week
    break triggered by the COVID 19 pandemic.


    Face-to-face teaching is resumed in schools where at
    least 60% of the employees are vaccinated against the virus, while the other
    schools carry on classes online. The Students’ Council says schools are not
    ready to resume on-site classes, and call on the authorities to also take into
    account the local infection rates, the healthcare infrastructure, the testing
    capacity and the means to ensure physical distancing.


    The coordinator of Romania’s vaccination campaign, Valeriu
    Gheorghiţă, admits that the measure would prompt a rise in infection risks, but
    argues that children need face-to-face classes and adults should make an effort
    to ensure that children are safe in schools.


    Valeriu Gheorghiţă: I believe it is a duty for us, for the adults, to
    make sure our kids are safe in schools. How can we do that? By complying with
    health and hygiene rules, by explaining these rules to the kids, by getting the
    vaccine. I believe this is the way for us to gradually become able to control
    and contain the effects and consequences of this pandemic. Yes, resuming
    on-site classes definitely entails additional risks in terms of the number of
    infection cases, but what we must keep in mind is a balance between the
    epidemiological status and the benefits and losses for our children during this
    period.


    In turn, the interim education minister Sorin Cîmpeanu
    says that although controversial, the new conditions for reopening schools have
    been effective and encouraged teaching staff to get the vaccine:


    Sorin Cîmpeanu: The reports for Friday, 29th October, indicated
    that 54% of public and private schools had a vaccination rate of over 60% and
    may resume face-to-face classes. By Friday, 5th November when we
    updated all data for all the schools in Romania, there was an increase from 54%
    to 68%, so the measure worked. Several inspection teams from the Education
    Ministry will conduct on-site checks to see the extent to which protection
    rules are implemented, and also to check the accuracy of the reported
    vaccination rates. This is a compromise solution, it has its flaws, but at the
    end of the day this criterion ensures a safer environment for students and
    teachers, it protects teachers the most, because according to physicians vaccinated
    people don’t get infected and don’t pass on the virus as easily as the non-vaccinated.


    To make up for the lost time during this school break,
    the Education Ministry amended the structure of this school year and shortened
    the winter holiday for middle schools and high schools. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • January 14, 2021 UPDATE

    January 14, 2021 UPDATE

    VACCINATION More than 3,500 new coronavirus cases and 66 related deaths were recorded on Thursday in Romania. The total number of confirmed cases is now over 684,000, while the death toll is 17,035. 1,101 Covid patients are in intensive care. 90% of Romanians who caught the virus have recovered. Some 155,000 healthcare workers and those working in social care have received the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine in Romania. Phase two of the vaccination campaign gets under way on Friday, targeting the elderly, chronic patients and workers in key sectors, totalling some 5 million people. PM Florin Cîțu says the pace of vaccination will be stepped up, the target being the immunisation of more than 10 million people by September. 62% of Romanians say they want to be given the vaccine according to a poll conducted by Reveal Marketing Research between 6th and 11th January.



    SALARY LAW The government is looking at bonuses in the public sector and if they are justified as part of drafting the state budget for this year, PM Florin Cîţu said on Thursday. He explained that he is considering amending the salary law to eliminate inequalities in the public sector. He said the pensions law would also be amended this year to take into account the contribution principle. The government on Wednesday increased the gross minimum wage by approx. 3%.



    SCHOOLS Most schools in Romania will reopen on February 8, if the COVID-19 situation stays the same as in the past few weeks, president Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday. He had a meeting with the PM Florin Cîţu, the education minister Sorin Cîmpeanu, the health minister Vlad Voiculescu, the head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, and the head of the National Centre for Infectious Disease Monitoring and Control, Adriana Pistol. Iohannis explained that when the infection rate in a locality goes above 6 per thousand, a lockdown will be introduced. He also said the situation will be re-assessed prior to opening schools, with a final decision to be made on February 2. As far as universities are concerned, each institution will be free to decide. With the exception of two months, schools have been closed in Romania since March last year, with teaching being conducted online.



    PROTEST Healthcare trade unions in Solidaritatea Sanitara federation picketed the government building in Bucharest and prefecture offices around the country to demand more protection measures for healthcare workers amid the pandemic. They also demand a rise in the basic salary for all healthcare staff as of January 1 this year, to the level stipulated in the salary law for 2022. The federation also wants the government to give up on the reduction of the basic salary as a result of a government order issued at the end of 2020, and to grant all healthcare workers special bonuses and a risk incentive for the entire duration of the pandemic.



    AIR FORCES Four Romanian F-16 aicraft with Air Base 86 in Borcea (south-eastern Romania), together with US Air Force aircraft deployed in Europe, took part on Thursday in the Prime Accord multinational military exercise. The exercise included escort and combat patrol missions. According to the Romanian defence ministry, the action was designed to reinforce NATO assurance measures in south-east Europe, and to check the integration of Romanian and NATO command and control structures. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • January 10, 2021 UPDATE

    January 10, 2021 UPDATE

    COVID-19 Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the total number of coronavirus infections in Romania has passed 671,000 and the total death toll has reached over 16,600, after over 3,000 new cases and 62 deaths were reported on Sunday. 1,065 people are currently in intensive care. The largest number of cases, 825, was reported in the capital Bucharest. Since the start of the vaccination programme in Romania on December 27, more than 100,000 people have received the anti-COVID-19 vaccine. Mild and common side effects have been reported in 350 cases, mostly headaches, muscle pain, fever, asthenia or rashes. The next stage in the vaccination campaign, addressing the elderly and chronic patients, is scheduled to start at the end of next week. The Government is to pass an emergency order granting bonuses to the personnel involved in the anti-COVID National Vaccination Programme, the health minister Vlad Voiculescu announced. Family physicians, who are regarded as a vital element in the immunisation campaign, will also be paid.



    FILM colectiv / “Collective, the Romanian documentary by Alexander Nanau covering a journalist investigation into the corruption in Romanian healthcare, won the award for best foreign-language film of the US National Society of Film Critics. The documentary colectiv is Romanias nomination for the 2021 Oscars in the “best international feature film, previously known as best foreign film. This is the first time that Romania submits a documentary in the competition for the Academy Awards.



    BANKS As of Monday, all banks in Romania are to submit to the National Tax Agency (ANAF) all data on the accounts held by private individuals and business, under an emergency order which transposes a European directive. The new legislation is designed to help the authorities fight against money laundering and terrorism financing. An electronic tax registry will become operational, containing banking and payment accounts identified by International Bank Account Number. The Agency will thus be able to monitor money circuits in Romania and to identify money laundering attempts.



    SCHOOLS Romanian students resume online classes on Monday, for the last 3 weeks of the first half of the academic year. A one-week vacation follows, and the second semester, beginning on February 8, might bring Romanias 3 million primary, secondary and high school students back into schools. This is one of the options considered by the authorities, depending on the latest COVID-19 developments. Another option is for only pre-schoolers and primary school students to resume face-to-face classes, while in a third scenario 8th and 12th graders might also get back to school.



    EMPLOYEES 1.25 million people were working in public institutions in Romania in November 2020, over 64% of them in the central public administration. According to the Finance Ministry, nearly 600,000 of these jobs are entirely funded from the state budget. The largest number of jobs is reported in public education (almost 300,000), followed by the Interior Ministry (125,000). Local public administration units had 450,000 employees in November, more than half of them in jobs fully financed from the state budget.



    COMPLAINTS Almost half of the complaints filed in 2020 to the European Consumer Centre in Romania concerned the transport sector. People were unhappy with the services received from air, road, railway and naval transport companies, as well as from car rental companies. Other complaints concerned clothing and footwear, restaurants and hotels, as well as entertainment and cultural activities, the National Consumer Protection Authority says.



    WEATHER A code yellow alert for heavy snowfalls is in place until Monday afternoon in the south and south-west of the country and the capital Bucharest. A layer of 10-20 cm of snow is expected in these areas. Snowfalls, glaze and temperatures of up to 2 degrees Celsius are forecast in Bucharest for the next 4 days. (tr. A.M. Popescu)