May 10, 2021

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 10.05.2021, 13:55

COVID-19 620 new infections
with the SARS-CoV-2 have been reported in Romania in the past 24 hours after
more than 10,700 tests have been carried out across the country, says the
Strategic Communication Group. Another 68 people have died bringing the death
toll to 29,034. 1,066,731 infections have been confirmed in Romania since the
beginning of the pandemic and 1,015,092 patients have been cured. 962 patients
are presently in intensive care. The regions with the highest infection rates
in the past 14 days have been capital city Bucharest and Cluj in western
Romania. These two regions are the only ones still in the so-called yellow zone
in terms of infections. No more fatalities have been reported among the
Romanians abroad in the past 24 hours. Romania’s vaccine rollout continues with
a series of vaccination marathons and 3.6 million people have so far got the
second jab in this country.

PANDEMIC About 159 million people have
got infected with the novel coronavirus since the onset of the pandemic the
world over and more than 3.3 million have died, the latest data published by
worldometers.info says. Against the backdrop of a diminished number of
infections Europe announces new relaxation measures. After more than six months
of severe restrictions, Italy gives up the quarantine imposed on foreign
tourists, while Germany has eased up a series of restrictions in the case of
the people who got both doses. A series of relaxation measures have been
adopted in Spain, although only 12% of its population has been vaccinated. British
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has today confirmed relaxed measures in Britain
where more than two thirds of the adults have got the first jab. The number of
infections in India has dropped under 400 thousand a day and the number of
deaths has also started to decrease after two days with more than 4 thousand
fatalities.

PLAN Romanian Prime Minister Florin
Citu is this week going to Brussels to present the development projects
included in the latest version of the country’s Recovery and Resilience Plan
(RRP). Upon the latest talks with the European Commission representatives, authorities
in Bucharest say that none of the projects included in the plan have been
scrapped but the sums allotted have been seriously trimmed. The initial version
of the plan had a budget of 42 billion euros, over 12 billion more than it can
get from the EU. The RRP presently boasts a 3.7 billion euro budget for
education as well as for other projects, such as the A7 motorway section
linking the cities of Ploiesti to Buzau in the country’s south-east.

SUMMIT US president Joe Biden and
secretary of state Antony Blinken are today attending a video conference of the
Bucharest Format Summit B9 hosted by Romanian president Klaus Iohannis jointly
with his Polish counterpart Andrzej Duda. The event involves the participation of
the other heads of state of the Bucharest Format as well as the NATO Secretary
General Jens Stoltenberg. According to the presidential administration in
Bucharest high on the agenda are preparations for the upcoming NATO summit in
Brussels on June 14th with special emphasis on strengthening the
transatlantic relation and the alliance’s defence and deterrence posture on the
Eastern Flank. The event is also expected to focus on the dialogue and
cooperation with partners in the eastern neighbourhood, the support given for strengthening
their defence capabilities as well as raising the resilience of NATO, its
allies and partners to face the present defence challenges. The Bucharest
Format Summit B9 is an initiative launched by Romanian president Klaus Iohannis
and the president of the Polish Republic Andrzej Duda, which brings together
NATO members on the alliance’s eastern flank like Bulgaria, the Czech Republic,
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Hungary.

(bill)