July 24, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 24.07.2021, 19:27

Covid-19RO. The Romanian authorities are once again drawing attention to the
fact that the number of cases of infection with the new coronavirus will
increase in the next period. A report by the National Institute of Public
Health shows that, in the most pessimistic scenario, by September 15, the
number of newly reported cases could exceed 1,500 per day. The report also analyses
the need for resources and estimates that, in the midst of a pandemic wave, at
least 500 intensive care beds may be needed. The Minister of Health, Ioana
Mihăilă, has warned that unvaccinated people are the most exposed to infection.
In the last four weeks, in Romania, 87% of the new cases and 91% of the related
deaths were recorded in unvaccinated people. As regards immunization, some 12
thousand people got the jab in the past 24 hours. So far, more than 4.7 million Romanians have been fully
vaccinated. On Saturday, 126 new cases of infection with SARS-CoV-2 were found
in Romania, in about 26 thousand tests, but no Covid-19 related death was
registered.

Pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened in Europe and North America,
massively affected by the much more contagious Delta version of the virus. The
World Health Organization and the European Center for Disease Prevention and
Control have confirmed that the Delta variant is now almost everywhere in
Europe and have called on authorities to step up efforts to prevent the virus
from spreading further. Globally, this week saw an average of more than 520,000
new daily cases of infection, almost 10% more than last week’s average. In the
United States, the number of new cases has increased by more than 62%, and in Europe by more than 25 percent.

Crisis. As of Saturday, a 30-day state of alert is in place in
Bucharest’s District 1, due to what the press calls the ‘garbage crisis’. The
decision was adopted by the Local Committee for Emergency Situations, with the
agreement of the prefect Alin Stoica, at the request of the district mayor,
Clotilde Armand. The prefect of the Capital motivated his decision by the fact
that a large amount of uncontrollable waste has accumulated on the
streets, and the provider of sanitation
services, the Romprest company, cannot cope. From the opposition, the Social
Democratic Party started collecting signatures to dismiss Clotilde Armand (USR-PLUS),
which is in an open conflict with Romprest and her own political partners in
the National Liberal Party. The Social Democratic vice-president Alexandru
Petrescu says the mayor doesn’t care about the local community she works for. District
1 is the richest and most economically dynamic in Bucharest.

Moldova. The Constitutional Court of the Republic of Moldova (ex-Soviet,
with a predominantly Romanian-speaking population) has confirmed the results of
the early parliamentary elections held on July 11 and validated the mandates of
the elected deputies. The election was won by the Action and Solidarity Party
(PAS), founded by the head of state, the pro-Western Maia Sandu, with 52.5% of
the votes. The Electoral Bloc of
Communists and Socialists (BECS), led by the former pro-Russian heads of state,
the communist Vladimir Voronin and the socialist Igor Dodon, came in second,
with 27.4%. The populist party led by the fugitive oligarch Ilan Shor, the
protagonist of many serious cases of corruption, will also be part of the new
Legislature. After redistributing the votes of the parties that did not exceed
the electoral threshold, PAS has 63 of the 101 seats in parliament, the
Communists and Socialists have 32, and the Shor Party 6. After the validation
of the elections by the Constitutional Court, President Sandu convened
Parliament for the inaugural session, scheduled for Monday. PAS leaders have
promised to form a new government soon.

Statistics. The number of hours spent working fell last
year in the European Union by 12 percent compared to 2019, a trend that
affected almost 27 million people, according to data from the European
Statistics Office. Eurostat considers that this reduction can be explained by
the measures taken by the authorities to control the COVID-19 pandemic, such as
furlough. According to Eurostat, the most severe decrease was recorded in
Greece and Spain, almost 20 percent, while Romania falls into the category of
Member States where the drop was below 10 percent.

Tokyo Olympics. At the Olympic Games in Tokyo,
Romania won the first medal on Saturday. Fencer Ana Maria Popescu won silver in
the individual epee event. In the final she was defeated by the Chinese Yiwen
Sun, 11-10. On Sunday, Romania’s Under-23 national football team meets the
South Korean team for its second Group B match of the Tokyo Olympic tournament.
In the same group, also on Sunday, the New Zealand-Honduras match will be played.
On Thursday, in the debut match, Romania defeated Honduras 1-0, and New Zealand
beat South Korea with the same score. In total, 101 Romanian athletes, 46 women
and 55 men, are participating in the Tokyo Olympic Games, in 17 disciplines. Because
of the Covid-19 pandemic, fans are not allowed to attend the games. (MI)