July 11, 2021

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 11.07.2021, 13:45

Pandemic Romania. Romania recorded today 26 new Covid cases from
18,000 tests and one new death, while 56 Covid patients are still in intensive
care. The Romanian government extended the state of alert nationwide for a
further 30 days from 12th July. The coordinator of the mass
vaccination campaign, dr. Valeriu
Gheorghiţă warned that Romania may see an increase in the number of new Covid
cases from the middle of next month driven by the spread of the Delta variant.
More than 4.8 million people have received the Covid jab in Romania since the
start of the vaccine roll-out in late December, with more than 4.6 million
being fully vaccinated.

Pandemic world.
Great Britain recorded over 32,000 new Covid cases on Saturday, while Italy hit
1,400 new daily cases. Russia also reported 25,000 new cases and 750 fatalities,
the highest death toll since the start of the pandemic. The Netherlands decided to toughen
measures to contain the spread of the virus as the number of daily cases grew
14 times compared with last week, from 500 to 7,000 cases. All night clubs,
bars and night-time music events are banned for the next five weeks. In Paris,
the government is looking for ways to step up vaccination amid fears of the
spread of the Delta variant, which is creating problems in neighbouring
countries. Unvaccinated travellers to Great Britain from France are asked to self-isolate
for seven days, just like those arriving from countries in Asia and Latin
America. Worldwide, Covid cases passed 187 million, while at least 4 million
people have died, according to wordlmeters.info.
The US, India and Brazil have the highest death tolls.

Elections Moldova. Turnout in today’s early parliamentary elections
in the Republic of Moldova passed 33.3%, which means their results will be valid,
said the spokesperson for the republic’s Central Electoral Committee. One of
the main themes of the election campaign was whether Moldova should look more
to the West or the East, geopolitically speaking. There are over 2,100 voting
stations, including 150 for Moldovan citizens abroad, namely 31 in Italy, 17 in
Russia, 13 in the US and 12 in Romania. Moldovan last went to the polls in
2019, but the Parliament resulting from those elections failed to form a
government following the resignation of Ion Chicu’s cabinet. The country’s
pro-western president Maia Sandu thus called early elections after dissolving
Parliament at the end of April.

EU. Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu is attending on Monday a
meeting of EU foreign ministers focusing on the geopolitical aspects of the new
digital technologies, the EU’s Strategic Compass, a reflection process aiming
to define the EU’s role as a relevant player in the area of security and
defence, the situation in Ethiopia and the recent developments in Afghanistan
and Lebanon. According to a statement from the Romanian foreign ministry,
Aurescu is also expected to present the results and conclusions of a recent
South Caucasus tour undertaken together with his counterparts from Austria and
Lithuania. On the sidelines of the meeting, EU ministers will attend an
informal breakfast with Egypt’s foreign minister Sameh Shoukry and an informal lunch
with Israel’s foreign minister Yair Lapid.

Tourism. Over
100,000 people visited the Romanian Black Sea coast this weekend. Following an
easing of Covid restrictions and lower new cases, many Romanians are choosing
local destinations for their seaside holidays. The most popular resorts are
Mamaia, Costinești and Vama Veche. According
to the Federation of Employers in Romanian Tourism, the average occupancy rate
this weekend in classified accommodation facilities is 75%. Despite an expected
rise in prices as the peak of the tourist season is nearing, the number of
tourists is expected to grow.

Football. Italy and England are today playing the European
Football Championship final hosted by London’s Wembley stadium. In the semis,
England defeated Denmark 2-1 in extra-time, while Italy defeated Spain 4-2 on
penalties. Bucharest hosted four Euro 2020 matches, three in the group stage
and one in the round of last 16. Italy only have one European title, which they
won 53 years ago, while England are playing a European championship final for
the first time. Italy lost two other finals, while England’s best result so far
was reaching as far as the semis, in 1968 and 1996. Italy and England have so
far faced each other 27 times, with Italy winning 10 times and England 8, but
England lead on goals scored, 33-31. (CM)