PRIORITIES Romania’s new Health
Minister, Ioana Mihaila, kicks off her mandate with three key priorities, which
she says are going to guide her mandate, besides the strategy to curb the
pandemic. The new minister’s priorities are, attracting funds for reforms and
investment, increasing people’s access to basic medical services as well as
raising the competitiveness of the managing boards of hospitals and the county health
houses. According to Minister Mihaila, over 2.6 billion Euros worth of EU funds
are to be invested in streamlining the country’s healthcare system and the next
government session will propose an emergency draft aimed at involving family
physicians in the vaccine rollout. Nominated by the USR-PLUS Alliance, Ioana
Mihaila has replaced Vlad Voiculescu, recently sacked by the Liberal Prime
Minister Florin Citu.
HANDBALL Cristina Neagu, the world’s best woman handballer has
provisionally withdrawn from the national side. The announcement was made at
the end of the match against North Macedonia, which ensured our qualification for
the World Championship this year. On Wednesday night, the Romanians secured a
35-20 win against north Macedonia in the second round of the playoffs for the
final tournament in Spain. The Romanians had also clinched a 33-22 win in the
first game in Bucharest on Saturday. Romania thus remains the world’s only side
to have participated in all the 24 editions of the World’s Women Championship
from where our handballers have walked away with four medals: gold in 1962,
silver in 1973 and 2005 and bronze in 2015. Romania ended the latest edition of
the aforementioned competition in 2019 on the 12th position. This year’s
edition is due over December 1st and 19th.
COVID-19 Vaccination remains the only way to stop the
spread of coronavirus, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis has said, urging all
who haven’t got the vaccine yet to get immunized because only this way we can
have a summer without so many restrictions. On Wednesday, Romania reported the
largest number of people vaccinated in a single day, roughly 92 thousand,
bringing the total number of those who got at least one dose to more than 2.8
million people. According to the authorities, Romania has now the capacity to
immunize 120 thousand people on a daily basis. 3006 new Covid infections were
reported on Wednesday, about 1,000 less than a week ago. The number of people
admitted to hospitals is also going down to 11,500, while 1,400 people are in
intensive care. The Covid-related fatalities remain high though, 175 in the
past 24 hours.
MEETING Bucharest is hosting for two
days the Trilateral Meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Romania, Poland and
Turkey – an event, which was preceded by an online conference over the present
security challenges. Taking the floor during the event, Romanian Foreign
Minister, Bogdan Aurescu has highlighted the value of the trilateral meeting in
handling these crises, mainly in consolidating the NATO deterring and defending
posture in the eastern flank. The Romanian official has also referred to the
complex regional background fraught with concerning developments, affecting the
area from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea and which is mainly visible at
Ukraine’s western border and in the illegally occupied Crimea. The situation in
the Black Sea region is high on the agenda of the trilateral
Romania-Poland-Turkey meeting.
TENNIS The world’s third tennis player,
Romanian Simona Halep, is today up against Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech
Republic in the round of 16 of the tennis tournament in Stuttgart with more
than 560 thousand dollars in prize money. Halep, a former Roland Garros
champion has won all the major clay tournaments in Europe, except for the one
in Stuttgart, where she only made it to the semifinals in 2017. In 2020, the
Romanian clinched two titles in Prague and Rome. Also in Stuttgart, the pair
made up of Raluca Olaru of Romania and Nadia Kicenok of Germany has qualified
for the quarter finals of the doubles contest after a 7-6, 6-4 win against
Hayley Carter of the USA and Luisa Stefani of Brazil.
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