May 14, 2020 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 14.05.2020, 20:00
COVID-19 We are at the end of 2 difficult months, the president of Romania said on Thursday night, hours before the end of the state of emergency introduced on March 16 in order to contain the coronavirus epidemic. He congratulated Romanians on managing to curb the quick spread of the COVID-19, through a national effort, and to keep the number of victims very low. The president also said that the National Emergency Committee will now declare a state of alert, which lifts some of the restrictions, but warned that if the situation worsens, he will not hesitate to reintroduce the state of emergency. According to the latest data, Romania has seen 1,046 COVID-19 related deaths and over 16,000 cases. More than 9,000 have recovered. Among the Romanians living abroad, over 2,855 have so far tested positive for the coronavirus, and 102 have died.
MEASURES The Government Thursday approved new measures to support the companies and citizens affected by the corona crisis. Furlough payments will be extended until June 1 for the sectors that remain closed down. Deputy PM Raluca Turcan also mentioned that until the school year is over, next month, parents who have to stay at home with their children will also benefit from paid leave. In turn, the economy minister Virgil Popescu said in the second half of the year the relevant authority may work to reduce electricity prices by 1-2%.
AID The Romanian Embassy in Chișinău announced the medical equipment, materials and medicines sent by Bucharest to support Moldova fight the SARS-CoV2 outbreak have started to be distributed to hospitals. Romanias donation amounts to 3.5 million euros and consists in materials covering Moldovan hospital needs for the next 2 or 3 months, Ambassador Daniel Ioniță says. Tens of doctors and nurses from Romania also assisted Moldovas healthcare staff during the pandemic. PM Ludovic Orban promised Romania would send further aid to the Republic of Moldova when required.
SAVINGS Two in 3 Romanian employees have managed to save money in the past 2 months and intend to continue to do so, fearing a prospective recession, according to a poll carried out by one of the countrys largest online recruitment platforms. On the other hand, the state of emergency caught the other interviewees without any savings and this has not changed. According to the same poll, nearly 35% of the respondents say the first thing they intend to do after normal activity is at least partly resumed is to look for another job, while 18% say they plan to ask for a pay raise or to start their own business. As many as 14% of the employees in Romania expect their salaries to be cut, and another 5% expect to lose their jobs as companies will struggle to recover after the corona crisis.
ENVIRONMENT The European Commission Thursday decided to send a letter to Romania giving it 4 months to take the necessary measures to solve air quality problems. This is the official beginning of an infringement procedure. Romania has failed to comply with the nitrogen dioxide threshold in the capital Bucharest and 4 other major cities—Braşov (centre), Iaşi (east), Cluj (north-west) and Timişoara (west), and to take adequate measures to reduce the periods when the threshold was breached, the EC explains. On April 30, the EU Court of Justice ruled against Romania for non-compliance with the Parliament and Council directive on ambient air quality and cleaner air for Europe.
MARTYRS On May 14 Romania commemorated the people killed in communist prisons. On the night of May 14, 1948, the largest number of political arrests in the history of the country was reported. Tens of thousands of youth, many of them high school and university students, were arrested and sent to prison and labour camps then in a plan put together by the communist authorities. Historians say over 600,000 Romanians were victims of the communist prison system between 1944 and 1989.
PANDEMIC In Spain, one of the worst hit countries in Europe, only 5.3% of the population have been infected with the novel coronavirus, according to the preliminary findings of a survey aimed at establishing the percentage of the population that have developed coronavirus antibodies. Herd immunity is far from being reached, as it requires 60-70% of the population to be infected. Meanwhile, Spains authorities announced a 14-day quarantine will be compulsory for all travellers entering the country, as of Friday, May 15. In Rome, the government proposes that the state of emergency stay in place until January 31, 2021, in order to contain the disease, although the latest data point to a drop in new cases. In the US, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned that hackers backed by the Chinese government are targeting American institutions working on new COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, and urged all these institutions to strengthen their cybersecurity. China denied the accusations. The total number of Covid-19 cases worldwide is 4.5 million, with the death toll standing at around 300,000. Over 1.6 million patients have recovered. In the USA, the worst hit country in the world, the number of deaths is over 84,000. In Europe, the most affected country is the UK, followed by Italy, Spain and France.
(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)
