June 25, 2020 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Newsroom, 25.06.2020, 20:00
EUROSTAT – In 2019, in Poland and Romania non-nationals represented less than 1% of the population, according to the Eurostat. On January 1st, 2019, 21.8 million citizens of a non-member country lived in one of the 27 EU Member States, representing almost 5% of the EU population. Moreover, there were 13.3 million people living in one of the EU Member States on January 1st 2019 with the citizenship of another EU Member State, representing almost 3% of the EU population. The EU Member State with the highest share of non-nationals was Luxembourg, at 47% of its total population. A high proportion of foreign citizens (10% or more of the resident population) was also observed in Cyprus, Malta, Austria, Estonia, Latvia, Ireland, Belgium, Germany and Spain. According to the Eurostat, in most EU Member States, the majority of non-nationals were citizens of non-EU countries.
CORONAVIRUS — Another 460 new infections with the coronavirus have been reported in Romania in the past 24 hours, a record figure for the past 2 months, which takes the total tally to 25,286 contaminations. Latest figures published by the Strategic Communication Group show 1,565 deaths and 199 people in intensive care. 4,601 Romanian citizens from abroad have been confirmed with COVID-19, mostly in Italy, and Germany. The health minister Nelu Tataru has announced that the number of cases of contamination in Romania these days is higher than usual, but he hopes the number will drop in the coming days. He has again urged the population to observe hygiene norms and social distancing rules, to wear protective masks in enclosed areas and on public transport and to avoid crowded areas. Minister Tatru has also said he is surprised by the Constitutional Court’s decision to admit the Ombudsman’s notification on some provisions concerning the instatement of quarantine, saying all measures taken so far were meant to prevent the virus from spreading.
WORKERS — 996 Romanian citizens employed by a meat processing plant in Germany have tested positive for coronavirus, the Romanian Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday. They added that the quarantined people are provided with everything they need and a hot line has been set up for them with information available in Romanian. At a meeting of the crisis cell set up at state level, also attended by representatives of Romania’s General Consulate in Bonn, it was decided to increase the number of testing centers so that all the employees of the plant should be tested by July 3.
IMF — The IMF has revised significantly downwards its estimates regarding the evolution of the world economy this year, the negative effects of the coronavirus pandemic being more intense than anticipated. The IMF latest report shows that international experts estimate that the global economy will contract by 5% this year and that the American economic growth rate is going to drop by 8%. As regards Romania, the IMF estimates a 5% contraction of its economy. China is the only big economic power which is expected to report economic growth this year.
MEETING – The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu on Thursday received the US ambassador to Romania, Adrian Zuckerman, to tackle the evolutions in the Black Sea area and regional cooperation, especially within the Three Seas Initiative. According to the Foreign Ministry, talks focused on the recent developments that give consistency to the Romania-US Strategic Partnership, such as cooperation in the field of defence and security, energy security as well as human trafficking and copyright protection. Bilateral cooperation in the context of the pandemic was also discussed.
WEATHER— The weather in Romania will remain unsettled but warm, with heavy rainfalls expected in half of the country. Rivers from the east of Romania remain under a code red alert for flooding, with orange and yellow code alerts for the rivers in the north, west, center and east of Romania. PM Ludovic Orban said that committees were set up within the prefect’s offices meant to assess the damage caused by flooding and the amount of damages to be paid to the people whose properties have been affected. Maximum temperatures will range from 21 to 30 degrees C, with a 31-degree reading in Bucharest on Friday at noon.
PANDEMIC — The total number of coronavirus infections at global level exceeded 9.5 million, with 485 thousand deaths reported. The US and Brazil are the countries reporting the highest virus spread rate. In the US the virus is spreading at a faster pace in the southern states, mainly in Texas and Florida, which prompted the governors of several states in the northeast, severely affected by the pandemic, to impose two weeks of quarantine for all the people coming from 8 southern states. Experts with the University of Washington quoted by Reuters estimate that the situation is going to worsen in Latin America with the number of deaths at the end of October expected to go beyond 388 thousand. They estimate that two thirds of the deaths are going to be reported in Mexico and Brazil. The number of new infections is also on the increase in Europe, the WHO announced on Thursday. French authorities have announced they will carry out systematic testing of the population, to identify possible hotbeds. Consequently, around 1.3 million people in the region of Paris will be required to have a PCR test, even if they have no symptoms.
(Translated by Elena Enache)
