January 20, 2022
Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 20.01.2022, 14:28
COVID-19 Romania has today reached an all-time high
in terms of Covid-19 infections since the beginning of the pandemic, 19,105, in
the past 24 hours out of 78 thousand tests conducted. Authorities have also
announced 43 fatalities. The previous all-time high was on October 19th 2021,
when 18,863 cases were reported along with 561 deaths. According to Health
Minister Alexandru Rafila, the Covid-related mortality is ten times lower than
in October. Rafila says that the innovative anti-viral treatment will become
available in Romania shortly. On the other hand, the Romanians’ interest in
getting the jab remains low with a national vaccination rate slightly exceeding
40%. The anti-Covid vaccine will become available to children with ages between
5 and 11 in Romania starting January 26th.
TENNIS
The former world number
one, Romanian tennis player, Simona Halep will today be up against Brazilian
Beatriz Haddad Maia in the third round of Australian Open. Also today, Romanian
Sorana Cirstea has qualified for the competition’s third round after a two-set
win 6-2, 6-4 against Karolina Kucova of Slovakia. Another Romanian, Irina Begu
lost to Elise Mertens of Belgium 6-3, 6-2.
HANDBALL Romania’s champions in women’s handball, CSM Bucharest, on
Wednesday night lost to French side Brest Bretagne 24-21 in a match counting
towards the Champions League Group A. CSM had come after a clear win in
Montenegro against local side Buducnost Podgorica but the show our handballers
managed in the second half of the game was below expectations. They will be
playing German side Borussia Dortmund in a home match on Saturday. CSM rank
fifth in their group with 10 points out of 10 matches.
STRIKE
Employees of the Public Transport
Company in Bucharest have today gone on an all-out strike calling for pay rises
and for the company’s managers to step down. According to one of its managers,
the average salary in the company stays around 1400 Euros and has accused the
trade unionists of mounting illegal actions. The protest has also been
considered illegal by the authorities, which say that strikes should not be
launched during the state of alert. Furthermore, even during the strike, the
company was supposed to operate at a third of its normal capacity.
NATO
Romanian president Klaus
Iohannis has today had a positive reaction following the announcement of his
French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that France is ready to send troops to
Romania as part of NATO missions. According to Iohannis, the Romanian-French
strategic partnership will thus be consolidated on the eastern flank in the
Black Sea area. France is ready to participate with troops inside NATO in order
to defend countries in Eastern Europe whose security is being threatened by
Russia, Emmanuel Macron has said. In a speech held at a military unit in
Alsacia, the French leader has also mentioned Romania, where an increased NATO
presence would be decided. The announcement comes at a tensioned moment in
Eastern Europe, against the background of a massive Russian build-up at its
border with Ukraine, where a 100 thousand strong military contingent has
allegedly been deployed. The Kremlin has called on NATO to pull out troops from
its eastern members, Romania included.
(bill)
