August 22, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 22.08.2021, 20:00

FIREFIGHTERS – Romanian firefighters in Greece on Sunday had the
mission to protect three localities in the Attica area, the Romanian Department
for Emergencies announced. The Romanians have the task to prevent the fire from
spreading so as to protect communities. Romania sent to Greece 142 firefighters
with around 30 firefighting machines for a 10-day mission that could be
extended if needed. Two weeks ago, 108 Romanian firefighters were sent to
Greece to help the Greek teams on the island of Evia put out wildfires there.

REPATRIATION – All Romanian citizens who asked the Bucharest
authorities to be evacuated from Afghanistan are now outside that territory,
the Romanian Foreign Ministry announced on Sunday. The Bulgarian Foreign
Minister Svetlan Stoev on Saturday, in a telephone conversation, thanked his
Romanian counterpart, Bogdan Aurescu and the Romanian state for supporting the
evacuation of 5 Bulgarian citizens from Afghanistan. Four of the five Bulgarian
citizens evacuated by the Romanian Air Forces from Afghanistan arrived safely
in Bucharest on Saturday, together with 15 Romanian citizens repatriated from
that country. President Klaus Iohannis hailed the repatriation of the Romanian
citizens and the commitment of the authorities involved in the process. 30
Romanian nationals have so far been evacuated from Afghanistan by planes of
partner states. Iohannis said authorities in Bucharest will continue to
evacuate Romanians from Afghanistan, as well as Afghan citizens who supported
the Romanian troops stationed there, students who have Romanian scholarships
and people in a vulnerable position.

CORONAVIRUS -
The number of new Covid infections continues to be high in Romania. On Sunday,
authorities reported 517 new cases. Another 9 Covid-related deaths were
reported on Sunday while 190 patients are in intensive care. The immunization
pace is low. 60% of the teaching staff in the capital Bucharest has been
vaccinated. Only 30,000 children aged 12 to 15 have been immunized in Romania
so far. Over 5 million Romanians have been fully vaccinated.

CITIES – Cluj Napoca is Romania’s safest city and the 14th in the
world in this respect, according to data provided by an expert platform that
collects information from the most important cities in the world. Thus, Cluj
Napoca outranks cities such as Prague, Valencia and Luxembourg, due to
investment in infrastructure and surveillance systems in the past few years.
The safest cities in the world are Doha, in Qatar, Abu Dhabi in the United Arab
Emirates and Taipei in Taiwan.

FESTIVAL
– The city of Sibiu in central Romania on Friday saw the opening of the 28th
edition of the International Theatre Festival, the largest event devoted to
arts in Romania and one of the most important in Europe. Until August 29, 600
theatre and dance performances, concerts and workshops are to be held in
various historical locations during the festival, which also involves the
participation of 2,000 artists from 38 countries. Radio Romania is a
co-producer of the event.