July 19, 2020 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news.

Newsroom, 19.07.2020, 20:00

LAW — In Romania, the law on the quarantine and isolation of the people infected with COVID-19, promulgated by President Klaus Iohannis and published in the Official Journal, will enter into force on Tuesday. People who return from countries with a high number of coronavirus cases need to quarantine at home or at locations provided by the public authorities. Those who do not follow the isolation and quarantine rules can receive sanctions. The isolation is first introduced for 48 hours, during which doctors can assess the patients and establish the risk of spreading the virus. If the risk persists, doctors can recommend extending the isolation period in hospital or at the patients home. The decision for quarantine or isolation can be appealed in Court but, until the ruling is delivered, the patient cannot leave the location without the doctor’s permission.

CORONAVIRUS — In Romania, another 767 new infections with coronavirus have been reported on Sunday by the Strategic Communication Group, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to over 37,400. Another 17 people have died, with the death toll standing at 2026. Out of the people who tested positive, more than 22,400 have been declared cured and discharged. Abroad, 5,215 Romanians were confirmed to be infected with the new coronavirus, and 122 died. Doctors say that one of the causes of the explosion in the number of cases is the discharge of positive patients on demand. Health Minister Nelu Tataru on Sunday said that the number of beds in ICUs will be supplemented in the upcoming period. The announcement comes after a number of hospitals in Bucharest and across the country treating patients infected with coronavirus announced the intensive care units are full and cannot receive more patients. The minister said that of the almost 4 thousand ICU beds at national level, half are in the 266 units treating Covid-19 patients. Tatatu voiced concern about people not observing the restriction measures in the Black Sea and mountain resorts.

LASER – Professor Gerard Mourou, the winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2018 and the initiator of the ELI (Extreme Light Infrastructure) project, came to Romania, where he visited, the ELI Center in Măgurele (near Bucharest). Professor Mourou particularly appreciated the remarkable progress in the implementation of the project, emphasizing the technological and scientific advancement of the infrastructure made at the international research platform in the field of lasers. He discussed with researchers there the launch of “experiments related to the use of high-power laser systems, in the development of new nuclear technologies for energy production, with minimal environmental pollution.” We recall that, in March 2019, the laser in Magurele registered a first in world research: it reached 10 PW, the power for which it was built, being the most powerful laser in the world.

PIPE – The Israeli government on Sunday approved an agreement with European countries for the construction of a subsea pipeline that would supply Europe with natural gas from the eastern Mediterranean, Reuters reports. The Eastmed pipeline, which has been in planning for several years, is meant to transport gas from offshore Israel and Cyprus to Greece and on to Italy. The countries aim to reach a final investment decision by 2022 and have the 6 billion euro pipeline completed by 2025 to help Europe diversify its energy resources. A land and sea survey is currently underway to determine the route of the 1,900-km pipeline. The pipeline is planned to initially carry 10 billion cubic meters of gas a year with the possibility of eventually doubling the capacity.

PANDEMIC – More than 14.4 million people have been infected with the new coronavirus in the world since the beginning of the pandemic and over 600,000 have died. According to worldometers.info, the United States recorded so far over 3.8 million confirmed cases. For several weeks now, the United States has been facing an explosion in the number of infections in the south and west of the country, by far the most affected in the world. Brazil reported over 2 million confirmed infections while Peru, Mexico and Chile have together over 1 million cases. India exceeded the 1-million threshold being the most affected country in Asia. In Russia, there have been 771 thousand confirmed cases so far and over 12 thousand deaths. China, on the other hand, has managed to limit the impact of the pandemic and has officially recorded 85,000 cases of infection and little over 4,600 deaths.

(Translated by Elena Enache)