March 18, 2021
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 18.03.2021, 13:55
Covid-19RO. Almost 6,200 new cases of COVID-19 have been
reported in Romania today. The total number of infected people nationwide has exceeded
880,000. Most cases were registered in Bucharest, with more than one thousand
new infections in 24 hours. The capital and eight other counties are currently
in the red scenario, with over 3 cases per one thousand inhabitants. There are
1,286 people in Intensive Care, a new record for the last months. Another 90
people infected with SARS-CoV-2 have died, bringing the death toll to 22,000. The
alert state imposed in the pandemic context has been extended in Romania, since
March 14, by another 30 days. All restrictions imposed so far are still in
place, and in addition, night curfew now starts at 10 pm.
Vaccine. In
Romania, the national immunization campaign against COVID 19 continues. Since
its start on December 27, over 1.57 million people have been vaccinated, mostly
with Pfizer-BioNTech, but also with Moderna and AstraZeneca. Romania has
decided to continue vaccination with AstraZeneca, based on scientific data and
the recommendations of the European Medicines Agency, the coordinator of the
national immunization campaign, Colonel Valeriu Gheorghiţă, explained. He said
the decision was not easy when many European countries – including Germany,
Italy and France – decided to temporarily suspend the use of the vaccine as a
precautionary measure following reports of blood clotting problems in people
who had been given a dose of this vaccine. The third stage of vaccination has
started this week, addressing the general population. For the time being,
vaccinations are taking place in localities where the incidence of COVID-19
cases is higher than 4.5 per one thousand inhabitants. The rest of the
population can subscribe to waiting lists on the electronic platform.
EMA. The European
Medicines Agency (EMA) is to announce today the result of its safety assessment
of the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19, after several European Union
member states suspended the administration of this vaccine for fear of side
effects. EMA chief Emer Cooke has already said she is firmly
convinced that the benefits outweigh the risks with this vaccine. On
January 29, the EMA gave the green light to this vaccine developed by the
British-Swedish laboratory AstraZeneca and Oxford University. Last month, the
World Health Organization authorized the AstraZeneca vaccine for emergency use,
making it easier for developing countries to access this relatively cheap
serum.
Economy. Even if
the economic recovery is stronger than expected this year, the world will be
left with a ‘hole’ of about 10 trillion dollars due to the coronavirus pandemic
and lockdowns, estimates the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)
estimates in a report quoted by dpa on Thursday. According to UNCTAD, although
global economy could grow by 4.7% in 2021, it will still register a minus of 10
trillion dollars – about twice Japan’s GDP – compared to the situation in which
the pandemic would not have occurred. . Last year, the global economy was
marked by the sharpest annual decline since the introduction of aggregate economy
statistics in the early 1940s, the report said. UNCTAD warns that while
developed economies have launched extensive recovery plans, people in smaller
and poorer countries continue to struggle.
Russia. Russia has
recalled its ambassador to the US for consultations after US President Joe
Biden made several statements about his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin. The
White House has a number of grievances that Biden has communicated directly to
Putin. These include Moscow’s involvement in the US elections, the massive
SolarWinds cyber attack and the alleged rewards to the Taliban for killing US
military. According to the Radio Romania correspondent in Washington, the White
House leader Joe Biden has said in an interview on ABC that Russian President
Vladimir Putin will pay for interfering in the 2020 presidential election. The
interview was broadcast after the publication of a report by the Information
Community, which shows that Putin authorized an undercover campaign to
denigrate Joe Biden and help Donald Trump win the election.
Moldova. The parliamentary majority in Chisinau nominated
Vladimir Golovatiuc, the ambassador to Moscow of the Republic of Moldova
(ex-Soviet, predominantly Romanian-speaking), for the position of prime
minister, jurnal.md reports. The candidate is proposed by a parliamentary
majority consisting of 53 deputies from the Party of Socialists of the Republic
of Moldova and the ‘For Moldova’ platform, which also includes deputies from
the Shor Party. Two days ago, the pro-European president Maia Sandu appointed
the interim leader of the Action and Solidarity Party, Igor Grosu, for the
position of prime minister. PSRM challenged at the Constitutional Court the
decree appointing Igor Grosu.
Tennis. The
Romanian tennis player Jaqueline Cristian (22, 160 WTA) achieved the highest
performance of her career, by qualifying for the quarterfinals of the WTA 500
tournament in St. Petersburg, with $ 565,530 in prize money. She defeated in
two sets the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko, former winner at Roland Garros, the
sixth seed of the competition. In the doubles, the Romanian-Dutch pair Monica
Niculescu / Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove qualified for the semifinals, after
beating the Japanese Makoto Ninomiya and the Czech Renata Voracova in two sets.
In the semifinals, Monica Niculescu and Pattinama Kerkhove will play against the
winners of the quarter between the main favorites, the Romanian Raluca Olaru
and the Ukrainian Nadia Kicenok, and the pair Arina Rodionova (Australia) /
Rosalie van der Hoek (Netherlands). (MI)
