March 19, 2020 UPDATE

17 new COVID-19 cases confirmed in Romania on Thursday, 277 cases so far nation-wide

Newsroom, 19.03.2020, 20:00

COVID-19 Romania 17 new COVID-19 cases were confirmed in Romania on Thursday, taking the total number to 277. The Strategic Communication Group, which has limited official COVID-19 updates to only one per day, also announced that 25 patients have recovered and were discharged from hospital—16 in Timişoara, 8 in Bucharest and 1 in Iaşi. Another 3,822 people are in quarantine facilities and tested for the disease, while over 33,700 are self-isolating at home under medical supervision. Meanwhile, president Klaus Iohannis welcomed Parliaments endorsing the presidential decree that declares a 30-day state of emergency in Romania. He said the vote proves the responsibility and solidarity of the entire political community. In turn, PM Ludovic Orban announced harsher penalties for those who thwart efforts to combat the epidemic and for false representations regarding the coronavirus disease. The government has also decided to increase state guarantees by around one billion euros, in order to help small and medium enterprises take out loans, and to cover 75% of the benefits paid by employers to the staff on idle time.

EASTER President Klaus Iohannis Thursday instructed prefects and local administration officials to urge the Romanians living abroad not to come home for the Easter holidays this year, because under the current regulations as soon as they enter the country they will have to be quarantined or self-isolating. There is basically no more traveling in the EU, he added, and emphasised, “we love our fellow Romanians who live abroad, we would like to see them, to be with them, but this is not possible this Easter. It is sad, but we have to be honest about this, so as not to create expectations that cannot be fulfilled. The most important Christian holiday, the Easter or the Resurrection of Christ, is celebrated this year on April 12 by Catholics and on April 19 by Orthodox believers, which make up a majority in Romania.

FAKE NEWS The Romanian interior minister Marcel Vela has forwarded to the National Communication Administration and Regulation Authority (ANCOM) a proposal made by the Strategic Communication Group to shut down a website called stiridemoment.ro. The proposal is based on Art. 54 of the presidential decree introducing the state of emergency in Romania. According to the authorities, the website selected and posted statements and information out of context, under alarmist headlines designed to generate panic among readers. The headlines were either completely false, or unrelated to official decisions. The website had no identity and no persons of contact could be identified. The police started an investigation into false information offences. On Wednesday, the EU spokesman on foreign policy Peter Stano said that, “Whoever is spreading the disinformation is essentially playing with peoples lives, and warned that pro-Russian media are behind some disinformation cases. Moscow dismissed the accusation.

POLL Half of the employees in Romania fear the COVID-19 will be followed by an economic crisis, and a quarter of all employees do not have enough savings to cover a months expenses if they are made redundant. These are the main findings of an opinion poll conducted by the online recruitment platform BestJobs. Little over 10% of the interviewees fear they may lose their jobs in the forthcoming period. According to the poll, 60% of the employers say their businesses have not been affected so far by the epidemic. As far as the employers are concerned, the biggest effect is that employees are becoming afraid of direct contact with their clients. Business owners have also noticed that some suppliers fail to deliver orders and that the prices for certain products have been substantially increased. The poll was conducted between March 9 and 16.

RAILWAY The passenger division of the main railway operator in Romania, CFR, is temporarily suspending international trains to and from Hungary and Austria. The decision is designed to help contain the Covid-19 epidemic, and follows Hungarys decision to close its borders for foreign citizens. On Tuesday, CFR made a similar decision regarding passenger trains to and from neighbouring Bulgaria and the Republic of Moldova. Travellers may claim full refunds.

COVID-19 world The president of the European Parliament, David
Sassoli, announced a special meeting of the EU legislative body on March 26,
focusing on EU-wide measures against the coronavirus pandemic. The decision was
made in a conference call with the leaders of the EP floor groups, and will be
the first to use online voting. Around 220,000 cases of COVID-19 and 9,000 deaths have been confirmed worldwide so far. Whereas China is now reporting zero local infections and new cases only involving citizens who came from abroad, in Europe the situation is further worsening. In Italy, the number of victims is nearing the total reported in Chinas Hubei region, where the virus first appeared. The EU has closed its borders for foreign citizens and has banned non-essential circulation in the Schengen area, to slow down the pandemic. In this context, the European Central Bank announced an emergency aid package amounting to 750 billion euros, intended to cover public and private debt and contain the economic aftershocks of the coronavirus pandemic. According to estimates, the Eurozones GDP may fall by 5% this year.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)