April 9, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 09.04.2021, 18:46

Covid-19.
Romania is on a downward trend in terms of number of infections with the novel
coronavirus, with less than 5 thousand confirmed cases on Friday. At 1,496,
however, the number of patients in intensive care is still high. 134 new deaths
were also recorded on Friday. On Thursday, the government extended the state of
alert in Romania by a further 30 days but announced restrictions will be eased
for the upcoming Orthodox Easter so that people can attend the Easter service
in church. Some restrictions are also eased for Muslims during the Ramadan. So far, over 2.2 million people have been
given at least one shot of the Covid vaccine in Romania.

Update. The National
Committee for Emergency Situations has updated the list of states and
territories with high epidemiological risk. Travellers arriving from these
countries are required to enter a 14-day quarantine. 44 states are on the list,
including France, the Netherlands, Hungary, Moldova, Ukraine, Bulgaria and
Turkey. Quarantine is not required for arrivals from Greece, the UK and
Germany. The decision takes effect from 13 April.

Philip. Romania stands with the Royal Family and the British people in
this time of sorrow, tweeted Romanian president Klaus Iohannis after hearing
about the passing of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of Queen
Elizabeth. The Royal family of Romania conveyed their unspeakable sadness at
the news and recalled in a Facebook post that Prince Philip and King Michael,
who were born on the same year, were cousins and maintained a lifelong
friendship. All generations in the Romanian and British Royal
Families have been close, but for today’s generation, Queen Elizabeth II and
Prince Philip remain as spiritual models, fundamental sources of
inspiration, the post also reads. Prince Philip died
aged 99, Buckingham Palace announced on Friday. The death came three weeks
after the prince was released from hospital, where he had been treated for a
month for an infection and then a heart problem. He was with Queen Elizabeth in
some of the most challenging moments of her 69-year long reign, the longest in
British history. Born in 1921 in Corfu, in Greece, Philip was also Prince of
Greece and Denmark. He became a British citizen in 1947 and gave up his claim
on the Greek and Danish thrones. He married the future Queen Elizabeth on 20th
November 1947 at Westminster Abbey. He served in the Royal Navy until Elizabeth
became queen, in 1952. From then on, he accompanied her on her official and
public duties and was also involved in many charitable causes.

Aid. Romania sent
310,000 protective masks to Serbia, to help the authorities in this
neighbouring country cope with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The
masks are part of a strategic medical equipment reserve set up at EU level in
the context of the sanitary crisis. This reserve is hosted by a number of
European countries, Romania included. The medical equipment was purchased by
Romania based on a 10-million euro loan signed with the European Commission. A
convoy of the Arad Inspectorate for Emergencies is ensuring the transport,
whose cost will be entirely covered by the Commission through the EU’s Civil
Protection Mechanism.

Corruption. The
National Anti-Corruption Directorate (DNA) has requested the Senate to green light
the prosecution of the Social Democratic senator Florian Bodog. The request is
now in the Senate’s Legal Committee, which has until Monday to make a
preliminary assessment of the document. According to anti-corruption
prosecutors, during his tenure as minister, Bodog arranged for a person
employed as a personal advisor to receive her salary rights for a period of 12
months without actually going to work and without performing the activities
required by the job.

Deficit.
Romania recorded a trade deficit of 3 billion euros in the first two months of
the year, up 455.9 million euros as against the same period of 2020, according
to the National Statistics Institute (NSI). Between January 1 and February 28,
2021, exports accounted for almost 11.2 billion euros, while imports stood at
14.2 billion euros. Exports went down by 3.7% while imports went up by 0.2%
compared with the same period last year. (CM)