13 April 2020, UPDATE

Romanian economy shrinks by 30-40% due to coronavirus pandemic./ Focşani County Hospital to be run by army staff./ Spain and Italy ease coronavirus restrictions.

Newsroom, 13.04.2020, 20:15

Economy. The Romanian economy has already shrunk by 30 to 40%, according
to the economy minister Virgil Popescu, who explained that the country’s economy
depends on the European one and that it will take some time until things go
back to the situation before the crisis. The Romanian government is to decide
this week what categories of public employees are targeted by a possible rotating
partial unemployment scheme during the state of emergency. Prime minister
Ludovic Orban has mentioned the idea that some state employees may go into partial
unemployment for half a month, during which they are paid 75% of the average
gross salary. The government is also expected to make its first budget
adjustment this year. The health and labour ministries will see their budgets
increase, with most extra funds being channelled towards payment of medical
leave, partial unemployment and the purchase of needed medical equipment. On Tuesday,
president Klaus Iohannis is expected to issue a decree to extend the state of
emergency for a further 30 days. The leaders of the Social Democratic Party,
Pro Romania, the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians in Romania and the
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats, in opposition, as well as the group of
ethnic minorities in the Chamber of Deputies have sent a letter to prime
minister Orban asking him to organise a timetable of regular talks between the
government and the parliamentary parties do discuss the problems faced by
Romania amid the coronavirus outbreak.

Toll
Romania. 333 new coronavirus cases were reported in Romania on Monday compared
with the previous toll, taking the total number of cases to more than 6,600, while 331 people have died. The authorities are expecting
the pandemic to peak in the coming period. On Monday, the Romanian health
minister Nelu Tataru handed over the management of the Focsani County Hospital
in south-eastern Romania to army doctors for the duration of the state of
emergency. The decision was taken after the hospital’s manager and 15 members
of the medical staff were confirmed with coronavirus. The Focsani County
Hospital is the third in Romania, after those in Suceava, in the north-east of
the country, and Deva, in the south-west, whose management is taken over by
army staff.

Pandemic
world. More than 1.85 million coronavirus cases have been confirmed globally. Almost
116,000 people have died and some 440,000 have recovered. According to Johns
Hopkins University, the highest number of victims is in the US, where more than
550,000 cases have been confirmed and over 22,000 people have died. The state
of New York is worst hit, with the number of infections passing 190,000. In
Europe, the countries worst affected by the coronavirus pandemic, namely Spain
and Italy, are beginning to ease some restrictions. The rate of infections
appears to slow, and the Spanish and Italian governments are taking measures to
boost economic recovery gradually. In Spain, economic activity was resumed on
Monday in the manufacture and constructions sectors, while the Italian
authorities will allow some businesses to open on Tuesday. Strict safety
measures remain however in place in both countries, with Spain distributing
millions of face masks to workers. China, where the first coronavirus case was
recorded in December, has reported the highest number of new infections in the
last five weeks, namely 108. Most new cases are among Chinese citizens
returning from abroad and almost half were recorded in a province on the border
with Russia.

Drill.
Romanian and US military are taking part this week in joint drill at the
training centre in Babadag, south-eastern Romania, according to the Defence
Ministry in Bucharest. The exercise will simulate an air attack against a
ground objective as well as an operation of recovering a downed aircraft.
According to the Defence Ministry, all the measures imposed in order to limit
the coronavirus outbreak are being strictly observed during the exercise.

Easter. Holy
Week has begun for Orthodox and Greek-Catholic Christians, including in
Romania, which is a majority Orthodox country. Due to the lockdown, the
faithful will only be able to watch the religious services held during this
period at home, as they are broadcast live by the media or online. Churches are
closed and visits to relatives and friends are banned.

Oil.
The price of the oil barrel increased by more than one dollar on Monday
morning, after the big oil producing countries agreed on a record cut in
output. There are fears, however, that not even this cut will be enough to
solve the problem of the diminishing demand. After several days of talks, OPEC,
Russia and other oil producing nations known as OPEC+ agreed on Sunday to cut
output by 9.7 million barrels a day in May and June, which amounts to around
10% of world output. Global fuel consumption has dropped by around 30% due to
the coronavirus pandemic. (CM)