January 6, 2022 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

România Internațional, 06.01.2022, 19:49

Covid-19Ro.
In the past 24 hours in Romania, the number
of new cases of Covid-19 went up by 20% as compared to the previous day,
exceeding 6000. 63 thousand tests were performed, which means an infection rate
of over 9%, authorities announced on Thursday. The Strategic Communication
Group also reported 44 related deaths. Approximately 8 million people have been
fully vaccinated in Romania, which means a little over 40% of the eligible
population.

Pandemic. The Romanian
Government has adopted the decision regarding the extension on the state of
alert as of January 8, and the establishment of measures to combat the COVID-19
pandemic. One of the amendments to the normative act, which is based on the
measures proposed in the Decision of the National Committee for Emergency
Situations (CNSU), refers to the wearing of surgical or FFP2 masks both indoors
and outdoors. At the same time, the Executive maintains the CNSU proposal regarding
the participation of persons in activities up to 50% of the maximum capacity of
the space, in the counties / localities where the aggregate incidence rate over
14 days is less than or equal to 1 / 1,000 inhabitants. The participation of
persons will be allowed within the limit of 30% of the maximum capacity of the
space in the counties / localities where the rate is higher than 1 / 1,000
inhabitants.

Protest. Romanian Energy
Minister Virgil Popescu on Thursday told the trade unionists from Alro Slatina
(southern Romania), the largest aluminum producer in Central and Eastern
Europe, that he will support the resumption of production. The minister’s
announcement came in response to the protest held by trade unionists in front
of the Slatina Prefect’s Office, following the management’s decision to reduce the
production capacity due to the energy crisis. Protesters say more than 1,000
employees are in danger of being furloughed. Protests were also held on
Wednesday at the alumina plant in Tulcea (southeast) against the increase in
energy prices. The unit has already started to reduce production, and people
fear that they will lose their jobs. Meanwhile, at political level, the Social
Democratic Party has announced that it will call on the ruling coalition it is
part of to urgently amend the legislation and protect citizens from the sharp
rise in electricity and gas prices.

Kazakhstan. The European Union on Thursday called on Moscow to respect Kazakhstan’s sovereignty and independence as Russia sends paramilitaries to quell a riot following the bloody violence that has spread to the former Soviet republic. The European Commission has also made a call for restraint from all the parties involved. At the request of the authorities in Kazakhstan, Russia and other countries in the Collective Security Treaty Organization have begun sending peacekeepers to guard state institutions, military units and other important targets, and to assist the local security forces in stabilizing the situation. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs informs that the staff of the Romanian Embassy in Nur-Sultan is safe, and the Romanian diplomatic mission in Kazakhstan is in contact with the approximately 100 Romanian citizens in this country, mainly specialists and experts employed by private companies.

Tennis. Simona Halep
defeated Gabriela Ruse 6-2, 6-1 on Thursday, in the round of 16 of the
Melbourne Summer Set 1 (WTA250) tournament, with some 240 thousand dollars in
prize money. In the quarters, Halep will take on the Swiss Viktorija Golubic, who
defeated Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove of the Netherlands. Also on Thursday,
another Romanian, Irina Begu, qualified for the quarter finals of Melbourne
Summer Set 2, where she will play against the American Amanda Anisimova, who
defeated Sorana Cirstea. The tournaments are taking place in the run-up to the Australian
Open, the first Gland Slam of the year, due between January 17-30.

Handball.
Romania’s men’s national handball team is
training for the preliminary qualifying tournament of the World Championship,
on home turf in Cluj-Napoca (northwest). Between January 7-9, 2022, the
Romanians will take on the national teams of Israel, Cyprus and the Republic of
Moldova. Last week, Romania played, also in Cluj, two training matches with the
Turkish national team, and won both of them. The friendly matches replaced in
the program of the two teams a new edition of the traditional Carpathian
Trophy, which was canceled, as several members of the Swiss and Iranian teams
tested positive for Covid-19. The coach of the Romanian team is the
famous Spanish Xavi Pasqual, who won the Champions League with Barcelona three
times. (MI)