May 15, 2020

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Newsroom, 15.05.2020, 13:55

COVID-19 Another 3 patients infected with the novel coronavirus have died in Romania, taking the death toll to 1,056, the Strategic Communication Group announced on Friday. More than half of the over 16,400 Romanians who have tested positive for the virus so far have recovered. Among the Romanians living abroad, over 2,880 have been reported to have the disease, and 103 of them have died.

ALERT On Friday Romania replaced the state of emergency with a 30-day state of alert, enabling the authorities to continue to fight against the COVID-19 outbreak. In shops, public transportation, at work and in other indoor public areas, protective face masks are compulsory. Citizens may move freely within their home localities, but a sworn statement and justified reasons are necessary in order to leave the locality. Romanias president Klaus Iohannis Friday signed into law a bill on measures to prevent and contain the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. The bill was previously endorsed by Parliament with a number of amendments, including the fact that a state of alert introduced in at least half of the national territory needs to be approved by Parliament.

CEI Romanias foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu takes part today in an extraordinary summit of Central European Initiative (CEI) heads of government, held over conference call. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, the agenda focuses on national, regional and European efforts to curb the COVID-19 pandemic and on economic recovery plans in the 17 CEI member states. The participants will also look at the measures aimed at containing the multisectoral impact of the pandemic, at coordinated measures the fight the health crisis and at economic and social recovery. A CEI joint declaration will be adopted at the end of the summit, which is chaired by Montenegro holding the 2020 CEI Presidency and organised together with the CEI-Executive Secretariat and in cooperation with the WHO Regional Office for Europe. The CEI is a flexible regional cooperation platform comprising 17 countries, of which 9 EU member states.

ECONOMY Romanias GDP went up 2.4% in the first quarter of the year compared to 2019, and 0.3% compared to the previous quarter, the National Statistics Institute announced on Friday. These preliminary figures will be revised and, given the current context, corrections may be more substantial than usual, the institution says. The main international financial institutions estimate that Romanias GDP will drop by 4-6% in 2020, over the corona crisis.

VIRUS The EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell called for an independent scientific investigation into the origins of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, dpa reports. In a column in Fridays issue of the German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Borrell urges China, where the virus first emerged, to take measures to help protect the world from future pandemics. The US and several European countries criticised Beijings handling of the epidemic, but China claims its approach was open and transparent. Josep Borrell calls on China to take responsibilities commensurate to its weight in fighting the pandemic, developing a vaccine and boosting global economy. The EU official also urges Beijing to contribute to the debt relief efforts for developing countries particularly hit, as the EU has done.

PANDEMIC The COVID-19 pandemic has killed over 300,000 worldwide since December, according to data posted on Worldometer. The total number of cases has passed 4.5 million, with nearly 2 million patients having recovered so far. The USA, which reported the first coronavirus-related death in February, is now the worst hit country in the world, both in terms of deaths (85,000), and in total cases (1.4 million). In Europe, the most affected countries are the UK (over 33,000 deaths), Italy (more than 31,000), France and Spain (over 27,000 deaths). Borders between the Baltic states are reopening today. Also on Friday, a 14-day quarantine rule takes effect for all travellers entering Spain. Vienna reopens traditional cafes after 2 months, while Berlin reopens restaurants.

(translated by: Ana-Maria Popescu)