March 7, 2021

Romania to build more hospitals with European funds, promises prime minister Florin Cîțu./ Romanian tennis players in competition at Dubai tournament.

Newsroom, 07.03.2021, 14:00

Hospitals. Romania will build more hospitals in the next four years
using European funds. This promise was made by prime minister Florin Cîţu, who
said he would like this to be a legacy of his government. He explained that the
only condition for using the European money is for the new hospitals to be
finalised by 2026, just like the other projects carried out under the EU’s
Recovery and Resilience Facility, under which Romania can benefit from 30
billion euros worth of funding. Cîţu said this instrument will be simple and transparent,
and that private projects and entities will also be eligible for funding,
alongside public companies and institutions. Prime minister Cîţu said earlier
that education will receive some 9% of the budget of the recovery and
resilience fund, while healthcare will receive some 3 billion euros.

Covid Romania. More than 1.16 million
people have been vaccinated against Covid-19 in Romania, most of them with the
Pfizer-BioNTech jab. The Moderna and AstraZeneca jab are also used. Romania
reported almost 3,300 new cases on Sunday, with the total number of infections
now passing 828,000, 90% of whom have recovered. The death toll passed 20,900
and some 1,100 Covid patients are in intensive care. Amid rising infection
rates, the education and health ministries issued a joint order saying that
pupils in their finals years will continue to go to school even if Romania
enters the red tier, in a combination of remote and in-person learning. This
decision remains in place until the infection rate hits six cases per 1,000
inhabitants, when it will be reviewed. Wearing face masks in class is
mandatory, with the exception of music school pupils studying wind instruments,
of all children during physical exercise classes and of pre-school children. A
few counties are in the red zone, reporting more than 3 cases per 1,000
inhabitants over the course of 14 days, namely Timiş (west), Maramureş
(north-west), Ilfov (south), Cluj (north-west) and Braşov (centre). The capital
Bucharest has also re-entered the red zone, with restaurants and cafes now closed
for business indoors. The western city of Timişoara and four neighbouring
villages will go into lockdown on Sunday midnight because of high infection
rates, while Râmnicu Vâlcea, in the south, and four
other villages in Vâlcea county entered the red tier.

Covid world. The European Union will
begin talks with the US on the provision of American parts for the Covid
vaccines and which are subject to severe export restrictions by Washington. In
another development, thousands of people protested in Vienna against the
restrictions to combat the pandemic. Austria lifted some restrictions in
February, reopening schools, shops and museums, but other measures are still in
place, with cafes and restaurants still closed and mandatory Covid tests for
pupils attending in-person classes. Globally, Covid infections are nearing 117
million, while the death toll is 2.6 million.

Statistics. The proportion of women holding seats in the national
Parliaments of EU member states grew from 21% in 2004 to 33% in 2020, according
to statistics published by Eurostat. Although this percentage varies
significantly across the Union, no country has more women than men in
Parliament. Last year, the highest proportion of women in Parliament was
recorded in Sweden (almost 50%), Belgium (43%) and Spain (42%), while Hungary
and Malta had the lowest percentages (both 13%), alongside Romania and the
Czech Republic (with 20%). With respect to the proportion of women in
government in 2020, Finland had the highest level (55%), followed by Austria
(53%), Sweden (52%), France (51%) and Belgium (50%), while the lowest numbers
were recorded in Malta (8%), Greece (11%), Estonia (13%) and Romania (17%). Eurostat
published this report ahead of International Women’s Day on 8th
March.

Pope visit. On the final day of his historic
trip to Iraq, Pope Francis is meeting today members of the Christian community
in northern Iraq. The pontiff will pray for the victims of wars in Mosul and
Qaraqosh, two cities still in ruin after the devastation caused by the Islamic
State jihadist organisation. The pope’s final day in Iraq will end with a large
outdoor mass in Erbil, the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan, considered an oasis of
peace in a region devastated by war and which is a place of refuge for many
Iraqi Christians. On Saturday, the pope met Iraq’s top
Shiite cleric, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and visited Ur, the
city believed to be the birthplace of Abraham, the patriarch of Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. During an ecumenical prayer, the pope denounced
terrorism that abuses religion. The pope’s visits abroad to mostly Muslim
countries such as Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Bangladesh, Azerbaijan, the United
Arab Emirates and the Palestinian territories, have been aimed at boosting
inter-religious dialogue.

Tennis. Several Romanian players are
in competition at the Dubai WTA tennis tournament worth 1.84 million dollars in
prize money and which got under way today. Ana Bogdan (ranked 100 in the world)
reached the main draw after defeating Russia’s Kamilla Rakhimova in the qualifiers. Sorana Cîrstea (67 WTA) and Patricia
Țig (61 WTA) are two other Romanian players on the main draw in
Dubai. Țig will face Latvia‘s Jelena Ostapenko, while Cîrstea will
play a qualifier. Irina Begu (world no. 72) may be the fourth Romanian player in
competition if she defeats Austria’s Barbara Haas. Simona
Halep, the winner of the Dubai trophy last year, is not playing this year. (CM)