March 19, 2021

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 19.03.2021, 13:55

COVID-19 IN ROMANIA – Some 5,600 new cases of COVID-19 infection were
reported in Romania on Friday, the Group for Strategic Communication announced.
Another 143 related fatalities were also signaled during a 24-hour interval. The
number of people currently in intensive care has exceeded 1,300, a national
record since the start of the pandemic. Over 887,000 people got infected with
SARS-CoV-2 in Romania starting last year. Bucharest and another eight counties
are in the so-called red scenario, where the incidence of the virus exceeds 3
per thousand inhabitants. Several localities around the capital city are now
under lockdown. On the other hand, starting December 27, 2020, over 1.6 million
people have been vaccinated in Romania with one of the three serums being
rolled out in Romania – Pfizer- BioNTech, Modern and AstraZeneca. On Monday,
the vaccination campaign entered its third stage addressing the general
population. For the time being, the campaign is carried out in localities where
the incidence rate exceeds 4.5 per thousand inhabitants. The rest of the population
can register on waiting lists on the online platform.

VACCINE – Several European countries, including France,
Germany and Spain, have announced they will resume administering the AstraZeneca
anti-COVID-19 vaccine, after European pharmaceutical agencies announced the
vaccine is safe and effective. On Thursday, the European Medicines Agency
expressed confidence the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks,
considering many countries expressed concerns after blood clots were identified
in people who were given the serum. The WHO Director for Europe, Hans Kluge,
also said the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh any potential health
risks, adding that European countries should continue administering the vaccine
to help save lives. So far, over 45 million doses of AstraZeneca have been
administered in the European Economic Area.

CVM – The European Commission supports the lifting of the Cooperation and
Verification Mechanism monitoring the Romanian judiciary by the end of 2021,
Prime Minister Florin Cîţu said on a Facebook post. The announcement follows a
meeting with European Commission vice-president, Vera Jourová. Florin Cîţu says
the Government wants to eliminate and repair the amendments brought to the justice
laws over 2017-2019, and shares the Commission’s desire to finalize by mid-2021
all commitments regarding the rule of law. The European Commission has mainly
recommended the elimination of the Special Section Investigating Crime in
Justice, the update of the Criminal Code and Criminal Procedure Code,
continuing the fight against corruption and defending freedom and pluralism of
the press.

PLAN – The Government in Bucharest is today holding a special meeting to
discuss the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, before adopting it next
week. The document must be submitted to the European Commission in April, so
that Romania should be allotted €30 billion worth of developments funds until
2026, by which date all projects included in the plan must be completed. Prime
Minister Florin Cîţu said the Plan represents a huge opportunity for a swift
economic recovery and improving Romanians’ living standards.

RUSSIA – Russian President Vladimir Putin says he is ready to hold online talks
with the American President Joe Biden, Reuters reports. The White House, on the
other hand, says Biden doesn’t regret calling the Kremlin leader a killer.
Moreover, Moscow said Biden’s statements are a clear sign Washington isn’t in
the least interested in repairing relations with Moscow. On Wednesday, Russia
recalled its ambassador to the United States for consultations, expressing, at
the same time, its willingness to avoid an irreversible degradation of
relations with the USA.

TENNIS – Romanian tennis player
Jaqueline Cristian (160 WTA) is today playing Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia (39
WTA) in the quarterfinals of the WTA 500 tournament in St. Petersburg, totaling
565 thousand dollars in prizes. On Thursday, Cristian ousted Jelena Ostapenko
of Latvia, a former winner at Roland Garros and seeded 6th in the
competition. In the doubles, the pair made up of Monica Niculescu of Romania
and
Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove of the Netherlands are today playing Raluca Olaru of
Romania and Nadia Kicenok of Ukraine in the semi-finals. The top favorites,
Olaru and Kicenok, ousted Arina Rodionova of Australia and
Rosalie Van Der Hoeck of the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. (V.P.)