July 8, 2020 UPDATE

Click here for a roundup of today's main stories

Newsroom, 08.07.2020, 20:00

ELECTIONS The Chamber of Deputies Wednesday passed a bill setting the date of the forthcoming local elections on September 27. The bill had been passed on Tuesday by the Senate as well, with a number of amendments related to the organization of the ballot and approved by the Permanent Electoral Authority. The campaign is scheduled to begin on August 28 and end on the day before the election. President Klaus Iohannis is now to sign the bill into law. Originally scheduled for June, the election was postponed over the COVID 19 epidemic, and the terms in office of local elected officials, including mayors, heads of county councils, and members of local and county councils, were extended by half a year. Parliamentary elections are also due in Romania this autumn.

POLL After the state of emergency introduced on March 16 and renewed on May 15, Romanians recovered their optimism and believe the coronavirus pandemic will be over by the end of the year, reveals an opinion poll run by Frames. 92% of the interviewees said the pandemic affected them to a great extent, especially in terms of the restrictions imposed by the authorities. Only 6% said they were not affected, and 2% did not answer. Asked about the protection measures they used during this period, most respondents said they used face masks, which 47% believe to be the most efficient measures against the virus. 67% of the interviewees are confident the epidemic will be over by the end of the year, 61% believe the pandemic will be ended by a vaccine, and 12% say safety measures will be decisive. The poll was conducted between June 29 and July 2, on a sample of over 2,500 people.

Covid-19 Another 18 deaths in people infected with the new coronavirus were registered in Romania, the Strategic Communication Group announced on Wednesday at noon. In total, 1,817 people diagnosed with COVID-19 have died. Also on Wednesday, 555 new cases of infection were reported, bringing the total number of cases to 30,175. There are currently 237 patients in intensive care. Of the people confirmed positive, 22,284 have been discharged. 5,095 Romanians abroad have tested positive, and 122 have died. Specialists call for responsibility and say that the current evolution of the epidemic, with many outbreaks through community spread, is due to the fact that prevention measures are not sufficiently observed.

Pandemic The coronavirus pandemic has killed nearly 540,000 people worldwide since the disease broke out in China in late December, France Presse reports from official sources. About 11,700,000 cases of infection have been officially diagnosed in 196 countries and territories, of which over 6 million are cured. In the US, more than 60,000 new cases of infection were reported on Tuesday, a record for a period of 24 hours. The toll of the epidemic in the United States, the most affected in the world, has reached almost 3 million cases. Washington has confirmed that it has officially notified the UN of the US’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization, which it accuses of reacting late to the pandemic. The United States is the largest contributor to the WHO. Several countries, such as Australia and Spain,are facing local pandemic outbreaks and have reintroduced containment measures. In Serbia, thousands of protesters clashed with police forces in the capital Belgrade after the government announced a weekend quarantine in the city in response to an increase in Covid-19 cases. The crowd stormed the Parliament building.

Economy. The European Commission’s estimate of Romania’s 6% economic drop in 2020 is too pessimistic, the Romanian Finance Minister Florin Cîţu stated on Wednesday. During a specialized conference, he said that, on Tuesday, the National Institute of Statistics confirmed the growth of the Romanian economy in the first quarter of the year by 2.7%. For next year, the EC estimates a 4% increase in Romania’s GDP, compared to a 4.2% increase forecast in May. On the other hand, the inflation rate would be 2.5% this year and 2.8% next year. As for the EU economy, the EU executive has warned that in 2020 it will face a deep recession due to the pandemic caused by the coronavirus, despite the rapid and comprehensive political response at Union and national level. Also on Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met in Brussels with European Parliament President David Sassoli and Council President Charles Michel to discuss the Union’s economic recovery plan following the crisis caused by the Covid – 19 pandemic. Also participating was German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the six-month presidency of the Council of the EU.

Baccalaureate. In Romania, the special session of the baccalaureate exam continues, organized for the first time, against the background of the coronavirus pandemic. 141 high school graduates are being tested these days, as they could not sit for the baccalaureate exams at the same time as their colleagues due to health problems. The promotion rate registered at the June-July session of the national Baccalaureate exam after appeals is 64.5 %.

Study. Romania is home to a quarter of the underage mothers in the European Union, ranking first among the members states in this regard. More than 8,600 girls became mothers before coming of age, two years ago, and 725 of them even before turning 15. A study conducted by the organization Save Romania’s children shows that less than 2% of the underage mothers interacted with public social assistance services, half of them did not receive information about sex education, and almost two thirds had dropped out of school before getting pregnant. 10% of the fathers are underage themselves.

(translated by Ana-Maria Popescu, Mihaela Ignatescu)