May 4, 2020 UPDATE

Ludovic Orban rounds up efforts to combat the pandemic / The Commission raises 7.4 million euros for COVID-19 vaccine

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Newsroom, 04.05.2020, 21:25

CONFERENCE – Romanian Prime
Minister Ludovic Orban on Monday evening held a press conference, 6 months
after being sworn into office. Nearly half of this period has been marked by
the coronavirus pandemic. The Prime Minister said Romania wasn’t ready for this
crisis and has made a huge effort to cope. Ludovic Orban said the restrictions
imposed so far have produced an effective result in the fight against COVID-19.
Romania’s testing capacity now stands at 11,000 tests per day, being carried
out in 60 centers with 100% accuracy, the Romanian official said. Romania now
has all the necessary medicine to treat the virus. The restrictions are
temporary and will be lifted gradually, depending on the evolution of the
pandemic. The Government’s purpose was to lower the impact on the economy, and
the situation right now exceeds the forecasts of many economic pundits. Ludovic
Orban also said the Government is assessing the financial resources and
instruments that will help economic recovery. Investment will target transport,
energy, healthcare, education and agriculture. Orban said public and private
investments will drive economic growth. Romania can also accommodate any
company that chooses to relocate its business from other countries.

EUROPEAN COMMISSION – The
European Commission on Monday organized an international video-conference aimed
at raising funds to support the development of a vaccine and effective
treatments of the coronavirus. An estimated 7.4 billion euros were raised,
which will go to setting up a world health organization and research networks.
In the opening of the event, the Commission donated 1 billion euros, the same
as Norway, while Germany and France have each contributed 500 million euros. Italy
donated 140 million euros. Canada’s contribution will stand at 850 million
dollars, Saudi Arabia will donate 500 million dollars, 388 million pounds will
be donated by Great Britain while Israel will contribute 60 million dollars.
The United States did not take part in the initiative. Any vaccine against the
coronavirus should be considered a global public product, French President
Emmanuel Macron said. In turn, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres pointed overcoming
the crisis will involve the biggest health effort in world history. Despite the
latest promising progress, many researchers doubt a viable vaccine used for
mass-immunization would be available earlier than next year.

(Translated by V. Palcu)