Radio România Internațional

Tag: wave

  • November 18, 2021

    November 18, 2021

    Government. The
    Social Democrats and the Liberals may resume today negotiations on the
    structure and governing programme of the new Cabinet they intend to form
    jointly with the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians. While both parties agreed to the idea of a rotation government, Wednesday’s
    talks were suspended as each party insisted on being the first to designate the
    prime minister. The Social Democrats nominated their president, Marcel Ciolacu,
    who promised his cabinet would be in office as early as next week. In turn, the
    Liberals want their own leader and interim PM to stay in office, although he
    was dismissed last month in a no-confidence vote. Two subsequent attempts
    at forming a minority government failed, and President Klaus Iohannis has said he will only invite parties to consultations
    after a parliamentary majority is agreed on.


    COVID-19. Romania reported little over 3,000
    new COVID-19 infections in the past 24 hours, as well as 332 related
    fatalities, 76 of them from an earlier date. According to official data, 311 of
    the total number of deaths were reported among unvaccinated patients. More than
    1,600 patients are currently in intensive care. The infection rate across the
    country is dropping, but scores of cities still have incidence rates above 6
    per 1,000 inhabitants. As of Wednesday Romania has over
    7 million fully vaccinated citizens.


    Vaccination. The
    digital COVID certificate and the vaccine are our main instruments in fighting
    the pandemic, and we must use them, the European Commissioner for internal
    market Thierry Breton said while on an official visit to Bucharest. He
    emphasised Europeans are rather lucky to have an effective vaccine against the
    virus available. The EU official also said the low vaccination rate jeopardises
    Romanians’ health and is a barrier to the full recovery of Romania and of the
    EU as a whole. During his meeting with the interim health minister Cseke
    Attila, the 2 officials discussed the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, the vaccine
    supply and the measures taken by member states with respect to the digital
    certificate. Thierry Breton will also have a meeting with president Klaus Iohannis
    later today.


    Pandemic. A new COVID-19 wave hit
    the centre and west of Europe, with nearly 53,000 new cases reported in 24
    hours in Germany, 25,000 in Poland, 20,000 in France, 14,000 in Austria, 10,000
    in Hungary. The Netherlands also announced a 44% increase this week compared to
    the previous one. Restrictions are once again introduced, especially against
    the unvaccinated, which prompts new interest in getting the vaccine. Sweden for
    the first time introduces a green pass to be used as of 1 December for events
    with more than 100 participants. France on the other hand does not plan new
    restrictions.


    Moldova. Chișinău continues to call for the pull-out of
    Russian troops from the east of Moldova, the country’s foreign minister Nicu
    Popescu said in Moscow, at a joint press conference with his Russian
    counterpart Sergey Lavrov. This is a priority of our foreign
    policy, Popescu said, referring to the troops deployed in the breakaway region
    of Transnistria, which Russia’s ex-president Boris Yeltsin undertook to pull
    out as far back as in the 1999 OSCE Summit in Istanbul. The Republic of Moldova
    has had no control on the breakaway region of Transnistria since 1992, after an
    armed conflict that killed hundreds of people was ended by the intervention of
    Russian troops on the side of the separatists. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • Romanian physicians plead for vaccination

    Romanian physicians plead for vaccination

    We
    are finding it increasingly difficult to cope with the surge in COVID-19 infections,
    both among the general public and among healthcare staff. The past few days
    have showed us a healthcare system stretched to its limits, especially in the
    units treating COVID-19 patients, reads an appeal signed by the Bucharest
    Physicians College, urging people to get the vaccine and comply with protection
    measures.


    The
    call comes at a time when Romania is struggling in the grips of the 4th
    wave of the pandemic, with a highly contagious Delta variant and with only
    around 30% of its population vaccinated-the second-lowest level in the EU. Romania
    is also substantially below the worldwide vaccination rate of 45%, although it
    has enough doses of Pfizer, Moderna, Astra Zeneca and Johnson&Johnson
    vaccines, received through EU support mechanisms.


    In
    fact, some of these vaccine doses have been resold or donated to other
    countries or even disposed of, because they had reached their expiration date. Meanwhile,
    hundreds of people die every day, hospitals are overcrowded, and intensive care
    units are fully occupied.


    We
    witness tragedies every day: patients who die, families suffering, physicians too
    exhausted to stay standing, patients and healthcare staff infected with SARS-CoV-2
    in need of medical care. And their number is very large. Faced with this
    dramatic picture, we believe the low vaccination rate among people is, perhaps,
    a failure in terms of the confidence that the public should have in the medical
    personnel, the appeal of the physicians in Bucharest also reads.


    They
    also reiterate that science and evidence-based medicine state, as reference
    international healthcare institutions confirm, that vaccination is one of the
    major instruments for the efficient management of the COVID-19 pandemic.


    The
    document also states that, while indeed vaccinated people may catch the disease
    or have severe forms of SARS-CoV-2 infection, the proportion of such cases is a
    lot smaller than among unvaccinated patients. In fact, the example of countries
    with high vaccination rates is taletelling in this respect.


    Every
    day we talk to fellow doctors who tell us they have no solutions. Young patients
    die, children get to intensive care units, people with and without
    co-morbidities lose this battle. We are at a crossroads, and I believe only
    though a joint effort will we be able to curb this trend. Science tells us
    today that vaccination and compliance with protection measures enable us to
    fight this pandemic more efficiently, reads the document signed by physician
    Cătălina Poiană, Ph.D., president of the Bucharest Physicians College. (tr.
    A.M. Popescu)

  • August 2, 2021

    August 2, 2021

    COVID-19 The number of new Covid-19
    cases in Romania is growing. Last week, the total number of infections was almost two-thirds higher
    than in the previous week. On Monday 137 new cases were reported out of 12,600
    tests. The number of coronavirus patients in hospitals stays at over 400, with
    the number of patients in ICUs also slightly on the rise in recent days. Five
    new COVID-related deaths have also been reported. In spite of the warnings
    regarding an imminent new wave of infections, the vaccination rate dropped
    slightly last week. Romania has only now managed to get 5 million people vaccinated,
    a target originally set for early June.




    ATTACK Romania firmly condemns and describes as utterly unacceptable last Thursdays drone attack on the oil tanker Mercer Street off the coast of Oman, which killed 2 people, including the ships Romanian captain, the foreign ministry says in a news release. According to the ministry, given that information presented by Romanias international partners indicates that the attack was deliberate and was coordinated from Iran, Romania requests the Iranian authorities to provide explanations regarding the incident. Irans ambassador to Bucharest was invited to an emergency discussion at the ministry. Meanwhile, the US and UK announced they were joining Israel and preparing a quick and coordinated response. Tehran in turn denies the accusations, which it dismisses as ungrounded.




    COMMEMORATION The 2nd of August is National Roma Holocaust Remembrance Day in Romania, marked since 2020. The Romanian Foreign Ministry pays tribute to the Roma Holocaust victims and emphasizes that the suffering of the Roma in Nazi concentration camps during WWII was for a long time unknown to the general public, which helped propagate prejudice against this community. According to the final report of the International Committee Studying the Holocaust in Romania, around 11,000 Roma ethnics died, out of the nearly 25,000 deported in Transdniester, a Russian-speaking breakaway region in todays Republic of Moldova. Also, on 2 August 1944, around 3,000 Roma were killed in the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp. A total of 500,000 ethnic Roma were killed in Europe during the Holocaust.




    WILDFIRES Entire sections of Mediterranean and Aegean Sea resorts are being evacuated and thousands of hectares of vegetation are burning in the south of Europe, from Italy to Turkey. Firefighters have been struggling to contain the wildfires for nearly a week, but temperatures of over 42 degrees Celsius and strong wind are making the intervention particularly difficult. Eight people died in Turkey, where an entire neighbourhood in the high-end resort of Bodrum has been evacuated. In Greece as well, the north-west of the Peloponnese peninsula, near the town of Patras, is in the grips of wildfires, and so are the regions Sicily, Puglia, Calabria, Lazio and Campania in Italy.




    CANOE The Romanians Cătălin Chirilă and Victor Mihalachi have today qualified into the semi-finals of the canoeing 1,000m doubles race at the Tokyo Olympics, after coming in third in the quarter-finals. Cătălin Chirilă and Victor Mihalachi won the bronze medal in this years European Championships in Poznan, while Mihalachi also won 2 world championships in this event, in 2010 and 2014. Over the years, kayaking and canoeing have brought Romania 34 Olympic medals, 10 of them gold, 10 silver and 14 bronze. However, Romanian athletes last won an Olympic medal in Sydney, 21 years ago. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • August 1, 2021 UPDATE

    August 1, 2021 UPDATE

    DIPLOMACY The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu Saturday had talks over the telephone with his Israeli counterpart Yair Lapid, concerning the incident involving the Mercer Street vessel in the Hormuz Strait area, in which a Romanian and a British national were killed on 29 July. The Romanian foreign ministry says it is in touch with both the company managing the ship, and with the local authorities in Oman and the United Arab Emirates, and is prepared to provide consular assistance. Also on Saturday, Bogdan Aurescu exchanged views on the matter with the UK foreign secretary Dominic Raab, and agreed on the need to clarify as soon as possible the circumstances of the incident. Dominic Raab voiced the willingness of the British authorities to coordinate with the Romanian party with respect to the repatriation procedures. A Romanian national and a British citizen from the crew of the oil tanker “Mercer Street were killed in an attack in unclear circumstances, as the vessel was sailing with no cargo onboard off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea. The Liberia-flagged, Japanese-owned ship is managed by the London-based company Zodiac Maritime, headed by an Israeli businessman.




    COVID-19 On Sunday 152 new SARS-CoV-2 infections were reported, out of nearly 22,000 tests. The authorities also announced no new COVID-related deaths, but reported 5 previous deaths, over 400 people hospitalised and 59 patients in ICUs. Meanwhile, new COVID-19 relaxation measures took effect in Romania on Sunday. In places with infection rates below 2 per thousand, outdoor events may be attended by up to 75,000 people, private indoor events by 400 participants, and sports competitions may be held with crowds up to 75% of the venue capacity. Participants must be vaccinated, tested or must have recovered from the disease. A maximum of 500 people may take part in rallies, with mandatory face covering, which remains a prerequisite in all indoor or busy areas. Also as of Sunday, the COVID-19 vaccine platform allows appointments for youth aged 12 to 17. Over 5 million people have received at least one dose of anti-coronavirus vaccine in Romania. 7,330 people have got the vaccine in the past 24 hours.




    FESTIVAL Cancelled last year due to the COVID pandemic, the Medieval Sighişoara Festival, the longest-lasting festival of its kind in Romania, bringing together artists, craftsmen and a large number of guests, came to a close on Sunday with a concert by the Romanian band Phoenix. The only medieval citadel still inhabited in southeastern Europe, Sighişoara saw over the weekend warriors, knights, ladies of the court and master craftsmen pouring in from all corners of the country and from abroad.




    MOUNTAIN RESCUE The president of Romania Klaus Iohannis posted a message on Sunday, on National Mountain Rescue Day, praising the “dedication and self-sacrifice of mountain rescue workers. The Romanian Mountain Rescue Association, known as Salvamont, the only mountain rescue service in the country, celebrated on Sunday 117 years since the first mountain rescue structures were established in the country.




    WEATHER Romania remains in the grip of a severe heat wave, with 16 counties and the capital Bucharest subject to code orange alerts for extreme heat and severe thermal discomfort valid on Monday, and a similar, code yellow alert in another 8 counties. The heat index is over the critical 80-unit threshold. Highs will be ranging between 37 and 40-41 degrees Celsius.




    MOLDOVA A new, pro-European and pro-reform government may be sworn in within days in the Republic of Moldova, after president Maia Sandu nominated Natalia Gavriliţă, from Action and Solidarity Party (PAS), for prime minister. She announced she would make public a proposed cabinet list in the following days, and voiced hopes that the new government will be sworn in as soon as possible. PAS, which holds a majority of seats in Parliament following the election of June 11, and the small party ŞOR, said they would support the new cabinet, whereas the Socialists and Communists warned they would vote against. Natalia Gavriliţă is the vice-president of PAS, a party founded by incumbent president Maia Sandu 5 years ago. She was an education minister in Maia Sandus cabinet in 2019, held several positions in Moldovas economy and education ministries, and worked for several years in private multinational companies.




    OLYMPICS Romanias rowing team returned on Sunday to the country with 3 medals—a gold and 2 silver—from the Tokyo Olympics. Romania finished the rowing competition on 4th place in the ranking after New Zealand (3 gold, 2 silver), Australia (2 gold, 2 bronze) and the Netherlands (1 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze). The 3 medals won by the Romanian team coached by the Antonio Colamonici (Italy) were brought home by Ancuţa Bondar and Simona Radiş—gold in women’s double sculls; Mihăiţă Ţigănescu, Mugurel Semciuc, Ştefan Berariu and Cosmin Pascari—silver in mens coxless four; and Marius Cozmiuc and Ciprian Tudosă—silver in mens two-frame event. The overall medal count for the Romanian rowers in the Olympics is 20 gold, 12 silver and 9 bronze medals. So far in Tokyo Romania has won one other medal, silver for Ana-Maria Popescu in the epee event. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • Extreme heat and traffic restrictions

    Extreme heat and traffic restrictions


    Romania is struggling these days with a new wave of extreme heat, which is expected to hold the country in its grips until early next week. Thermal discomfort is severe, and temperatures are reaching as high as 40 degrees Celsius. Weather experts warn that temperatures will not go below 20 degrees Celsius even at night, in some parts of the country.



    The southern regions are subject to a code orange alert for extreme heat, particularly difficult to withstand, according to experts, as the temperature-humidity index is predicted to go above the critical 80-unit threshold. Also, until Sunday night, except for the northern parts of the country, a code yellow alert against extreme heat is in place in all regions, with highs expected to hit 39 degrees Celsius.



    The bad news is that the first part of August is likely to be as hot, with highs predicted to stay around 37-38 degrees Celsius in the first days of the month as well, especially in the south and south-east.



    The brutal heat pushed the countrys electricity consumption to a record 8,865 MW on Wednesday. Given the current weather forecasts, the National Power Dispatch estimates similar electricity consumption levels for the coming days as well.



    With the heat persisting in the next period, the interior ministry has instructed its local structures in the counties subject to the code yellow and orange alerts to take measures to mitigate the effects of the rising temperatures. Interior ministry personnel will support local authorities in managing risk situations.



    In turn, the National Motorway and Road Corporation announced traffic restrictions up until Saturday night, for the period between noon and 8pm, for vehicles larger than 7.5 tonnes across the country except for the counties Harghita, Neamţ, Suceava and Botoşani, in the centre and north-east. The restrictions were introduced in order to help protect and preserve bitumen road segments and to prevent asphalt distortion caused by heavy duty traffic.



    The National Railways Corporation also announced that the speed of passenger and freight trains will be 20-30 kmph lower until the end of the week, to ensure traffic safety in areas where temperatures will reach 39 degrees Celsius. The measure will only be in place where rail temperatures exceed 50 degrees, to prevent rail dilation. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • July 28, 2021 UPDATE

    July 28, 2021 UPDATE

    HEAT WAVE Meteorologists have issued a code orange alert against extreme heat and thermal discomfort in seven counties in the south and the capital Bucharest, in place until Saturday. Maximum temperatures are expected to reach 40 degrees Centigrade locally. A code yellow alert against extreme heat is in place until Saturday for all other regions, with highs ranging from 34 to 39 degrees. Passenger and freight trains will travel at reduced speeds during this period. Road traffic authorities have also warned some
    restrictions will be introduced due to the extreme heat, on Thursday, Friday
    and Saturday, between noon and 8 pm in most of the country.




    COVID-19 The number of COVID-19 infections in Romania remains low, although it has gone up in recent days. The authorities announced 159 new cases on Wednesday, one new COVID-related casualty and 47 patients in intensive care. According to the head of the vaccination campaign, medical doctor Valeriu Gheorghiţă, nearly 90% of the people currently diagnosed with COVID-19 are not vaccinated, while over 91% of related fatalities were people who hadn’t taken the anti-COVID jab. At present, some 30% of Romania’s total population is immunised. Starting August 2, young people aged 12-17 can also receive the Moderna vaccine, Valeriu Gheorghiţă said. The Romanian official went on to say that, by mid-September, Romania might start administering the third dose of the vaccine for at-risk categories, such as health workers, chronically ill and people over 65 years of age. So far, 4.8 million people have been fully vaccinated in Romania.




    GOVERNMENT The Government Wednesday approved plans to further ease COVID-related restrictions starting August 1. PM Florin Cîţu mentioned, among others, that outdoors cultural and entertainment events may be attended by a maximum of 75,000 people, in places where the COVID-19 infection rate is under 2 per thousand, on condition that participants are vaccinated, recovered from the disease or have tested negative for it. For indoor and outdoor sports events, crowd attendance is limited to 75% of the venue’s full capacity, provided a physical distance of at least 1 m between viewers is ensured. In areas with an infection rate below 2 per thousand, bars, nightclubs, restaurants and gambling venues will also be open between 5 am and 2 am.




    IMF The International Monetary Fund on Tuesday maintained its 6% economic growth estimate for the world economy this year and upgraded its outlook on the United States and other developed economies, while downgrading its forecast for a number of developing countries affected by the fallout of COVID-19. In the case of Romania, in October last year the IMF estimated a growth rate of 4.6% this year. The new outlook expects Romanias economic growth rate to reach 6% this year. Additionally, the IMF has upgraded its forecast for 2022, from 3.9% as originally estimated, to 4.8%. According to the new report, Romania’s economic growth rates for 2021 and 2022 will stand above the European average.




    INFRINGEMENT The European Commission decided to start infringement procedures against 12 Member States, including Romania, for failure to transpose EU rules banning unfair trade practices in the agricultural and food supply chain. The deadline for transposing the regulations into national law was May 1, 2021. The Commission sent letters of formal notice to Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia and Spain, requesting them to adopt and notify relevant measures. The Member States have now two months to reply.




    BEAR CENSUS A bear census worth 11 million euro was launched on Wednesday in Romania. The Minister for Investments and European Projects Cristian Ghinea explained the project is funded under the Large Infrastructure Operational Programme. There will be two lines of investment, one focusing on the bear census itself, while the other will help implement state-of-the-art technologies aimed at limiting the interaction of bears with humans. Last week the Government had passed an order regulating human intervention in situations involving bears, under which bears can be driven away in low-risk cases, and tranquilized and relocated or even shot if they attack people or livestock.




    OLYMPICS Romania won two medals in Wednesday’s rowing finals at the Tokyo Olympics: Ancuţa Bodnar and Simona Radiş won gold in the women’s double scull event, while Romania’s four crew, made up of Mihăiţă Ţigănescu, Mugurel Semciuc, Ştefan Berariu and Cosmin Pascari scooped the silver. Adding to the two medals is Ana-Maria Popescu’s silver medal in the women’s epee event. Romanian fighter Maria Claudia Nechita Wednesday failed to qualify into the 57 kg boxing semi-finals, after losing to Japans Sena Irie, 3-2. A victory would have secured her an Olympic medal. Also on Wednesday, Romanias under-23 football team drew with New Zealand, in its last Group B match, and failed to move forward into the quarter-finals. The Romanians came out 3rd in the group, after South Korea and New Zealand and ahead of Honduras.



    FESTIVAL The 2021 edition of the largest cinema event in Romania, the Transylvania International Film Festival (TIFF) continues in Cluj-Napoca (north-west), until Sunday. Over 170 films are screened in this years festival. Concerts and meetings with film industry representatives are also organised as part of the event. TIFF aims to promote cinema by presenting some of the most important contemporary works which reflect the originality of their authors, less common forms of cinematic expression and new cultural trends. This years special guest in the festival is international star Sergei Polunin, regarded as the most talented ballet dancer of his generation. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • Calls for responsibility

    Calls for responsibility

    The pandemic affects a growing number of young people, without previous illnesses, including children, and the priority of all authorities is to save lives, the health minister Vlad Voiculescu said. In his latest public statement, he made a point of being joined by the managers of important hospitals in Bucharest, to emphasise that without citizen responsibility, the situation threatens to become critical. The new wave of the Covid -19 pandemic is overwhelming in terms of contamination rates and of its capacity to affect categories of people that seemed less vulnerable to the virus before.



    Vlad Voiculescu: “As you may remember, in the beginning of this crisis when we talked about a patient we used to list his previous illnesses. We knew that this virus would affect people with comorbidities. Well, now we see healthy people not only in need of hospitalisation, but struggling with severe forms of the disease. And we see children getting sick. Of the total number of patients with critical forms, over one-third are intubated, unlike in the first stages of the pandemic, when the proportion of severe and critical forms was significantly lower.



    Physician Andreea Moldovan, secretary of state with the health ministry, said the number of SARS-CoV-2 infections among children under 10 years of age is growing. She emphasised the importance of compliance with protection measures during childrens common activities.



    Minister Voiculescu announced a number of measures, including an increase in the number of beds in ICUs. The health ministry also intends to reduce the pressure on intensive care units by referring cases to hospitals that have not provided emergency services so far. Hospital managers reiterated what reasonable people, who do not fall for conspiracy theories and fake news, already know: the healthcare system is overburdened and the staff are exhausted. The chief of the Bucharest Emergency Rescue Services intensive care unit, Bogdan Opriţa, insisted that people must cooperate and get vaccines.



    Bogdan Opriţa: “If the number of patients grows any further, we may run out of ICU beds, equipped with oxygen supplies. Whereas in the second wave some 50% of the patients would have mild forms of the disease and could be discharged, now we can barely discharge 10% of the patients. Most of them need high-flow oxygen. And apart from them there are also the non-COVID patients, we cannot overlook them. The health ministry order makes it very clear that both patient categories must be given proper care, so no matter how many ICU beds we may add, they will eventually fill up. Without cooperation from citizens, no matter how many measures we take, we will not overcome this.



    The good news, on the other hand, is that the vaccine rollout continues at a pace that will enable the authorities to meet the goal of having 10 million Romanians immunised by September. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • Covid-19 red zone expands in Romania

    Covid-19 red zone expands in Romania


    The week did not begin too well for Romanians: the number of coronavirus infections is growing steadily, hospitals and ICUs are once again overcrowded, and as a result on Monday several cities in the country were included in the so-called “red zone. This means additional restrictions in places where the infection rate is over 3 per thousand.



    The red zone includes the capital city Bucharest and the neighbouring county, Ilfov, as well as Constanţa, in the south-east, and the counties of Timiş, Hunedoara, Cluj, Braşov, Alba and Sălaj, in the west of the country.



    Ilfov County, where most localities are virtually satellites of Bucharest, reports the highest infection rate, and most of its towns and villages are under lockdown.



    The authorities say they are not considering similar measures in Bucharest, the biggest, most dynamic and most populated city in Romania. Many Ilfov residents work in Bucharest and commute on a daily basis, and their children go to school in the capital city.



    With growing scepticism as regards lockdowns, commentators are noting the failure of this measure in Timişoara, where after 2 weeks in lockdown the number of new COVID-19 cases is higher than before. The same happened in 4 villages near the city.



    A member of the National Liberal Party, just like most government members, the chairman of the Timiş County Council Alin Nica said the head of the Department for Emergency Situations Raed Arafats decision to extend the zonal lockdown in Timşoara was abusive and that legal action against it was considered.



    Local authorities in Bucharest, from the prefect to the mayor general and sector mayors, say they want to avoid a lockdown and will step up checks and inspections in shopping malls and farmers markets at the weekend.



    Also a Liberal, PM Florin Cîţu said in turn he was trying to keep the economy open, which is why he would listen to all opinions and suggestions coming from experts. The PM has once again urged citizens to observe the containment measures introduced by the authorities, which in his opinion are among the most relaxed in the EU. It is high time the solutions came from the local authorities, the PM argued.



    The Social Democrats in opposition claim the Cabinet fails to take responsibility for their handling of the new wave of this pandemic and is trying to shift responsibility to local authorities.



    Meanwhile, people seem to have run out of patience. This past weekend, just like in many other places in Europe, protests were held in Bucharest and other cities against the pandemic containment measures imposed more than a year ago. (tr. A. M. Popescu)

  • The week in Review March 15-20, 2021

    The week in Review March 15-20, 2021

    COVID-19 in Romania: latest developments


    Romania is struggling with the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, with growing numbers of cases reported every day. According to official data, in the little over 1 year since the first SARS–CoV-2 patient was identified in the country, Romania has seen over 880,000 infections, and some 22,000 people have died. For the first time this year, the number of new cases reported in 24 hours has recently gone over 6,000. Another worrying figure is the number of people in ICUs.



    The authorities promise that the situation is under control but call for responsibility. President Klaus Iohannis said this new wave may be the last, given that the number of immunised people is growing by the day.



    This week, the third and last stage of the vaccination programme kicked off in Romania, giving access to vaccines to the general public over 16 years of age. This month, Romania should receive a total of over 2.6 million doses of 3 approved vaccines (Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca).



    In the meantime, however, the state of alert has been extended this week. Previous measures remain in place, and some new ones have been introduced, such as a ceiling on occupancy rates in mountain resorts of 70% of the total accommodation capacity.



    National Recovery and Resilience Plan


    President Klaus Iohannis had talks with the Liberal PM Florin Cîțu and other Cabinet members, to discuss the breakdown of the funds under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. After the meeting, Iohannis said the healthcare system will be one of the main beneficiaries. According to the head of state, the over 30 billion euro earmarked for Romania under this EU-wide plan is a chance for Romania to develop and implement the reforms postponed for years.



    The investments stipulated in the plan will help create new jobs, especially for those affected by the pandemic, will create new business opportunities, will help strengthen entrepreneurship and boost competitiveness. The Plan will also allow for the funding of the motorway network, while at the same time promoting green transportation. Another programme, entitled “Educated Romania, will also benefit from substantial funding.



    The Plan is to be approved by the Government next week and submitted to the European Commission.



    Public sector pensions and salaries


    The Government has taken the first concrete step to scrap the cumulated payment of public pension benefits and salary to the same individual. The Cabinet approved a draft law that forces public sector employees who reach retirement age to choose between receiving a salary if they continue to work, and receiving public pension if they retire. According to the labour minister Raluca Turcan, staying on the job past retirement age is an option, a right, and not an obligation. Nearly 35,000 people currently receive both salaries and pensions from the state budget, and in the near future they will have to opt for one or another.




    Simple motion against the economy minister


    The Senate of Romania Tuesday dismissed a simple motion tabled by the Social Democratic Party in opposition against the economy minister Claudiu Năsui, a member of Save Romania Union. Among other things, the Social Democrats blame Năsui for the absence of a strategy to support Romanian industry, for delays in implementing an aid scheme for the hospitality sector, for scrapping holiday vouchers and suspending payments under the Start-Up Nation programme.



    Claudiu Năsui denied all the accusations, and claimed the motion was tied to his ministry making public a list with the institutions contracts. Năsui promised his efforts to bring transparency in the work of the ministry will not stop here. We have turned off many conduits for draining public money and will continue to do so, we will encourage exports and will promote companies efforts to connect to the global market, the economy minister said during the debates on the motion against him.




    Cooperation and Verification Mechanism


    Romania may conclude the Cooperation and Verification Mechanism in the judiciary this year, provided that it implements all the recommendations of the European Commission, and as of next year its justice system might be assessed for the first time only in the context of the report on the rule of law, like all other EU member countries. This statement was made exclusively for Radio Romania by the European Commission vice-president Věra Jourová, who added that the Commission still believes the special unit investigating magistrates is an intrusive institution which affects the independence of judges.



    Věra Jourová had online consultations with Romanian officials, magistrates, MPs and civil society representatives. In a Facebook post after the talks with the European official, PM Florin Cîțu said that his Cabinet intends to address the ill-advised changes in the laws regulating the judiciary operated in 2017-2019, and that he shares the Commissions hopes that Romania will meet its rule of law commitments in the first half of this year.



    On Thursday the government passed a bill dismantling the special unit investigating magistrates. The justice minister Stelian Ion said the goal is to return cases involving magistrates to the competent prosecutors offices.




    “collective – the first Romanian film nominated for the Oscars


    The documentary “colectiv, by Alexander Nanau, is as of this week the first Romanian film nominated for the Oscars, competing in 2 categories (best documentary and “best international feature). The Romania-Luxembourg co-production depicts the joint efforts of doctors, government officials and investigative journalists that uncover a large-scale fraud in the Romanian healthcare system, in the wake of the fire in Bucharests Colectiv nightclub, which killed scores of people in October 2015.



    The film premiered at the 2019 Venice International Film Festival and earned the best documentary awards of the European Film Academy and of the London Film Critics Circle. “It tells the story of how incompetent authorities use lies and manipulation to trample over peoples lives, the director says. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • October 23, 2020 UPDATE

    October 23, 2020 UPDATE

    COVID-19 A new record-high number of new SARS-CoV-2
    cases in 24 hours in Romania, 5,028 out of 35,351 tests, was reported on
    Friday. So far, 201,032 people have tested positive for the virus, and 144,429
    of them have recovered. The Strategic Communication Group also announced that
    another 82 people died, taking the death toll to 6,245. A total of 10,427
    COVID-19 patients are currently hospitalised, 782 of them in intensive care-the
    largest number so far. Of the Romanians living abroad, 6,851 have so far
    tested positive, and the number of deaths remains 126, the authorities also
    announced.


    PANDEMIC Global coronavirus cases are nearing 42 million, while the number
    of fatalities has passed 1.14 million, according to Worldometers.info. Europe
    is seeing a large number of infections in the second wave. Spain has passed 1
    million cases. Ireland has seen over 2,000 daily cases and its government has
    imposed strict measures. The UK has also reported its highest number of daily
    cases, 27,000. Germany has also seen a record number of new 11,000 infections.
    Poland’s PM announced on Friday that the entire country would be classified as
    COVID red zone, with restaurants and primary schools partly closed down. The
    Warsaw National Stadium will be converted into a temporary field hospital and
    similar facilities will be arranged elsewhere in the country, after over 13,600
    new cases were reported in the last 24 hours. On Friday Slovakia initiated a
    3-week mass testing programme. Belgium and Czech Republic have the highest
    number of infections per number of inhabitants. Beginning on Saturday, Greece
    will impose travel restrictions in Athens, Thessaloniki and other badly hit areas.
    France has extended its night curfew imposed in the main cities to most of the
    country, beginning on Saturday.


    MOBILITY On Friday the government of Romania challenged several provisions
    in the EU Mobility Package I at the Court of Justice of the EU. Bucharest views
    these provisions as having a negative impact on the domestic market and
    affecting competitiveness of commodity transport in the Union. The move concerns,
    among other things, the ban drivers on taking their compulsory weekly rest
    hours on board of vehicles, the obligation for drivers to return to the
    employer’s office or to their place of residence on a regular basis, and the
    obligation to return vehicles to a company office within 8 weeks from
    departure. The claim submitted to the Court of Justice of the EU follows
    repeated efforts by the Romanian authorities against the restrictive and
    disproportionate nature of these provisions in the Mobility Package I, the
    Romanian Foreign Ministry said. Romania voted against the 3 regulations,
    alongside 8 other EU member states (Bulgaria, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
    Lithuania, Malta and Poland).


    VISIT Romania’s PM Ludovic Orban will be on an official visit to
    France on Monday and Tuesday. According to the Romanian Government, Ludovic
    Orban will have meetings with his French counterpart Jean Castex, with the
    speakers of the National Assembly, Richard Ferrand, and the Senate, Gerard
    Larcher, and with the leader of the centre-right party ‘Les Republicains’,
    Christian Jacob. The Romanian PM will also take part in a meeting of the
    Council of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. The visit
    also includes a meeting with members of the Romanian community in France.


    CORRUPTION The Liberal George Scripcaru, the outgoing
    mayor of Braşov in central Romania, has been charged with blackmail and is
    under judicial supervision. According to the National Anti-Corruption
    Directorate, while running for a new seat he threatened to cause problems to an
    advertising company unless it posted his election ads on public transport buses
    in the city. On September 27, Scripcaru lost the election to Allen Coliban
    (Save Romania Union). Meanwhile, 2 former mayors of the Black Sea port city of Constanţa,
    Decebal Făgădău and Radu Mazăre, both from the Social Democratic Party, have
    been indicted in a new corruption case. They are accused of having unlawfully authorised
    the construction of a luxury building on a beach.


    NATO The Romanian defence minister Nicolae Ciucă
    took part on Friday in a conference call of NATO defence ministers. The online
    meeting focused on ongoing Allied missions and operations, with a focus on
    those in Iraq and Afghanistan. Nicolae Ciucă reiterated Romania’s commitment to
    NATO missions, in a flexibly planned contribution that enables its
    reconfiguring in line to future Allied decisions and the dynamic of specific
    operational needs.


    FOOTBALL The Romanian football champions CFR Cluj on Thursday night defeated the
    Bulgarian side CSKA Sofia 2-nil in their opening Europa League Group A match.
    In the same group, the Italian side AS Rome defeated the Swiss side BSC Young
    Boys 2-1. Next week, AS Rome will be playing CSKA Sofia and CFR will be playing
    BSC Young Boys. Eliminated from the Champions League in the preliminary
    matches, CFR are the only Romanian side in the European competitions this year.
    (translated by: A.M. Popescu)

  • Number of COVID-19 cases expected to drop

    Number of COVID-19 cases expected to drop


    Several elements made September a difficult month in terms of managing the COVID-19 epidemic in Romania. This is why the authorities are yet again talking about the importance of observing healthcare rules, which is the only way for the situation to improve in the coming weeks.



    Health minister Nelu Tătaru: “This September has been a rather busy month, with the reopening of restaurants, theatre and cinema halls, people returning from their holidays, the crowded public transport, the start of the school year, the election campaign and the ballot on the 27th … For each of these activities, guidelines have been put together, in order to minimise the risks. Observing these rules means we stay on a plateau of around 1,500 new cases per day. If we manage to keep this level, we can imagine a downward trend in the second half of October. If we dont observe the rules, we may well see a rise in the number of cases from one day to the next. For the time being, we are staying in this scenario, we are in a second stage, the peak of the first pandemic wave.



    Last week, for the first time since the pandemic started, Romania had more than 9,000 new cases in a week, with a record of 1,713 infections reported in 24 hours. The rate of positive results out of the total number of tests conducted was also on the rise, and the transmission rate is over 1. The number of deaths per day is relatively constant, and so is the number of patients in intensive care.



    There are counties, such as Iași (north-east), with limited hospital capacity for COVID-19 patients. The manager of the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Iași, Carmen Dorobăţ, tells us why:



    Carmen Dorobăţ: “There are patients who still test positive even after 2-3 weeks in hospital. Some of them wont go home because they do not feel safe, medically speaking, or because they are afraid they may infect their closest ones, or because they have nowhere to self-isolate.



    According to official data, the number of Romanians that have had the disease since late February is close to 115,000. Of them, nearly 91,000 have recovered, and around 4,500 died. Elementary maths, confirmed by data on the worldometers.info website, tells us that there are roughly 20,000 COVID-19 patients in Romania at present. (translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)