Radio România Internațional

Tag: vaccination strategy

  • December 2, 2020 UPDATE

    December 2, 2020 UPDATE

    Covid-19 Ro — The anti-COVID-19 vaccination strategy in Romania will be adopted on Thursday by the country’s Supreme Defense Council headed by President Klaus Iohannis as part of a videoconference. The strategy was approved on Friday by the government and provides for the vaccination, in a first stage, of the health care personnel, the staff of residential, medical and social centers and the vulnerable people. The second stage will include the entire population of Romania. In another move, the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Wednesday said that later this week the enclosed agri-food markets will be reopened given the drop in the number of new COVID-19 cases in Romania in the past weeks. The enclosed markets had been shut down in early November in a bid to limit the spread of the new coronavirus. According to the latest report published by the National Public Health Institute, the spread rate of the new coronavirus in Romania has dropped last week by almost 10% as against the previous week. Another 4,916 new cases of contamination were reported on Wednesday and 135 deaths from COVID-19. A record number of patients 1,260 is now in ICUs. Since the onset of the pandemic, the total number of cases at national level has exceeded 484 thousand, with 11,665 deaths reported. The authorities are urging the population to continue to strictly observe the health protection rules.



    NATO – The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu participated on Wednesday, the last day of a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting, in two working sessions, shows a communiqué of the Romanian Foreign Ministry. Bogdan Aurescu highlighted the deterioration of the security situation in the region, caused by an increased Russian military presence and the intensification of hybrid actions. He underlined that implementing the measures meant to consolidate NATO’s deterrence and defense posture in the Black Sea region should continue. In this sense he highlighted the strategic importance of the Black Sea for the euro-Atlantic security and drew attention to the need to boost the coherence of the Eastern Flank. In the other working session talks focused on the consequences of China’s increased role at international level, including in directly relevant domains for NATO and the member states. In the first working session on Tuesday, minister Aurescu pleaded for the consolidation of NATO’s role by reasserting the central role of the transatlantic relation based on the principles of allied cohesion, unity and solidarity as well as for revitalizing partnerships from the perspective of continuing the Alliance’s open doors policy.



    Statistics — In 2018 Romania allotted for health only 580 Euros per capita, the smallest amount reported among EU member states, show data published on Wednesday by Eurostat. At the other end are Denmark and Luxembourg with more than 5,200 Euros per capita. The average amount at community level is almost 3 thousand Euros per capita. Within the EU, expenses allocated for health accounted for 9.9% of the GDP in 2018. Of the EU states, Germany and France reported the highest percentage of health expenses, namely over 11% and Sweden 10.9%. In this respect Romania is also at the bottom of the classification, its heath expenses accounting for 5.6% of the GDP. Only Luxembourg reported a lower percentage than Romania, namely 5.3% of the GDP.



    Funds — Romania has attracted 2.5 billion Euros from external capital markets at attractive costs, the Public Finance Ministry announced on Wednesday. According to a Finance Ministry communiqué, the Eurobonds issued on November 24, 2020 by the Finance Ministry enjoyed a great interest from investors, which reconfirms Romania’s status as an important bond issuer in Central and Eastern Europe. The funds of this transaction were received on Wednesday. (tr. L Simion)

  • November 17, 2020 UPDATE

    November 17, 2020 UPDATE

    Covid-19 Romania – A new high level meeting was held in Bucharest on Tuesday for assessing and presenting measures aimed at managing the COVID-19 pandemic. The meeting was attended by the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, the PM Ludovic Orban, ministers and officials from the healthcare domain. The PM reiterated one of the main objectives to be reached in a week’s time, namely to increase the number of beds in ICUs by more than 200. He added that the Health Ministry will be among the institutions that will benefit from additional funds upon the budget adjustment. In turn, the President Iohannis announced that the authorities started the organization per se for implementing the anti-Covid-19 vaccination strategy. He explained that the vaccination process will take place in stages, starting with certain groups of the population established according to epidemiological and medical criteria. The first stage includes the medical staff, the people in risk groups as well as the staff working in essential sectors such as education, national security, transports, energy, water and food supply. They also designated a coordinator of the vaccination campaign at national level — a military doctor specialized in infectious diseases. The authorities announced on Tuesday 8,262 new cases of Covid-19 from more than 31 thousand tests. With 186 new deaths reported on Tuesday, the total death toll went beyond 9,200, while the number of patients in ICUs stands at 1,174. Almost 70% of Romanians diagnosed with COVID-19 have recovered.



    Fire – Investigators have completed inquiries into the fire that occurred on Saturday at the ICU of the Piatra Neamt County Hospital, treating Sars-Cov-2 patients. The criminal case concerns manslaughter and bodily harm offences, as 10 people died and 7 others were injured. Five of the victims could not be identified and DNA tests were required. Doctor Ioan Cătălin Denciu remains in a serious condition—he tested positive for COVID-19 prior to being transferred to Belgium, and the injuries are more severe than originally thought. The physician has 2nd degree burns on 75% of the body, which he suffered while trying to rescue the patients from the intensive care unit during the fire. The manager of the Piatra Neamţ Hospital has resigned. Joint teams from Public Health Directorates and the General Inspectorate for Emergencies have been conducting inspections, since Monday, in all intensive therapy units across the country, to check electrical installations and the state of medical equipment. The health minister Nelu Tătaru says many hospitals underwent rushed revamping in 2020, and now the authorities have to check whether safety rules were complied with.



    Unions – Members of the SANITAS healthcare workers union Tuesday observed a moment’s silence for the victims of the Piatra Neamt hospital fire, in front of the Government headquarter. SANITAS had scheduled a rally for Tuesday, but the union decided to replace the protest with a commemoration of the victims and of the healthcare workers who lost their lives on the job. Unionists warn that the tragedy may occur again, anywhere in the country, because of the worn out equipment and overworked personnel. They call on civil society to put pressure on politicians to reform the Romanian public healthcare sector. SANITAS officials Monday submitted a list of demands to all county prefect offices.



    Moldova – The Republic of Moldova’s ex-PM, the Pro-European Maia Sandu, is the first woman elected president of the country. In Sunday’s ballot she won 57.75% of the votes, according to the final data announced by the Electoral Committee in Chişinău. The incumbent president, pro-Russian Igor Dodon, who got 42%, announced however he was challenging the result. Maia Sandu’s priorities include ending corruption and public money theft and reforming the political class. The election result is a moral victory of pro-European forces which want genuine change, political commentators in Chisinau say. However, they warn that a tense period may follow, because Igor Dodon’s Socialists hold the largest number of seats in Parliament.



    Gaudeamus – The 27th edition of the Gaudeamus Book Fair organised by Radio Romania since 1994, is taking place online until November 22nd. The event will end on Sunday and will take place exclusively online due to the new coronavirus pandemic. Attending the event are more than 100 companies, among which prestigious book publishers and distributors, music and educational games producers. Hundreds of events can be followed online on gaudeamus.ro, the website of the event, which this year is organised jointly with elefant.ro. Writer Norman Manea, nominated several times for the Nobel Prize for Literature, is the honorary president of this edition of the Gaudeamus book fair.



    Migrants — 41 migrants from Syria, Iraq and Palestine, among whom 6 minors, were discovered on Tuesday by the Romanian border police at the Nadlac 2 border point (in the west). They were hidden in a freight train loaded with moving parts for mechanical equipment, operated by a Turkish citizen. The adults are aged between 18 and 44. The 41 migrants said they wanted to reach western European countries. The border police are investigating the case, and will press charges of migrant trafficking against the Turkish citizen and of illegal border crossing attempt against the foreign migrants. (tr. AM Popescu and L. Simion)