January 15, 2022 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 15.01.2022, 19:00

Covid-19 update. Romania on Saturday
reported over 10,000 new Covid cases and 32 related fatalities, including three
recorded earlier. The incidence rate is on the rise around the country,
including the capital Bucharest, which passed 3 cases per 1,000 inhabitants,
entering the red tier. Restaurants, cinemas, gyms and other venues can now only
open at 30% capacity. Schools will stay open until 75% of hospital beds for
Covid patients are occupied in the respective counties. Romania has recorded
1.8 million infections and some 60,000 deaths since the outbreak of the virus two
years ago. Amid a sustained anti-vaccination campaign waged by part of the
media and some politicians and public figures, Romania has the second lowest
vaccination rate in the 27 EU member states, after Bulgaria.

Travel. The National Committee for
Emergency Situations has updated the list of countries and territories with
high epidemiological risk. Cyprus, Ireland, Iceland, France, Greece, Denmark,
Portugal, Spain and the UK are now on the red list, with South Africa, Brazil
and India no longer red list countries. The yellow list includes Serbia, the
United Arab Emirates and Russia, while Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova are
on the green list. The updated list comes into effect on Sunday, 16th
January.

Culture Day. Romanians celebrated on Saturday
National Culture Day and 172 years since the birth of their national poet Mihai
Eminescu, who is considered the last great representative of European
Romanticism. The holiday was established by Parliament in 2010 at the proposal
of the Romanian Academy. Romania’s diplomatic and consular missions and
cultural institutes abroad hosted special events. The president and prime
minister published special messages, recognising the difficulties faced by
artists because of the pandemic and the need to support them. The pandemic has
greatly affected the relationship between arts and culture creators and the
public, and if difficulties persist, a more complex approach is needed from the
state to support the cultural sector so as to make it more resilient, said president
Klaus Iohannis, while prime minister Nicolae Ciucă
said mobilisation is needed to help the cultural sector return to something
resembling normality. Eminescu’s anniversary and National Culture Day were also
officially celebrated in the Republic of Moldova, the ex-Soviet neighbouring
state with a majority Romanian-speaking population, as well as in the Romanian
ethnic communities in other neighbouring countries and the diaspora.

Justice. The justice ministry in
Bucharest has finalised a bill on the dismantling of a special department
investigating crimes in the judiciary and said it will move to submit it for government
approval next week so as to reach Parliament in the first part of February. The
activity of this department was criticised by the European Commission, with
suspicions that it was set up to take over sensitive cases from the National Anticorruption
Directorate, which is less susceptible to external influence. The justice
ministry also said it will resume work on the justice laws and the amendment of
the criminal codes so that they may be passed by Parliament by the end of
March.

Tennis. Romania has five players in
the singles main draw at the Australian Open. In the opening round, former
world no. 1 Simona Halep will be playing Poland’s Magdalena Frech; Sorana
Cîrstea will face Petra Kvitova, a difficult match for Cîrstea as Kvitova is
leaving 5-3 in their head-to-head; Irina Begu will play France’s Oceane Dodin; Jaqueline
Cristian, the 23-year-old Romanian who is for the first time in Melbourne, will play
Belgian’s Greet Minnen, while 24-year-old Gabriela Ruse, also for the first
time in this competition, will face Italy’s Jasmine Paolini. (CM)