November 16, 2020
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 16.11.2020, 13:55
Fire – Controls are being undertaken in ICUs across Romania following the fire that occurred on Saturday evening at the Emergency Hospital in Piatra Neamt (Northeast) which killed 10 patients. The patients, who had been diagnosed with COVID-19 and were receiving treatment in the ICU, could not be saved despite the efforts of the medical staff. The fire was caused by a short circuit, according to preliminary searches. Another 6 patients in a nearby room are in a serious condition. The leadership of the Public Health Directorate in Neamt said in a communiqué that in order the extend the ICU with a view to treating more COVID-19 patients, the ICU of the Piatra Neamt County Emergency Hospital was reconfigured on the day of the fire without having previously asked for an approval in this sense. Prosecutors have opened an in rem criminal case file.
Covid -19 Romania — The city of Sibiu, in central Romania, has today been quarantined for 2 weeks, after the cumulated contamination rate in 14 days exceeded 12 cases per one thousand inhabitants. The people of Sibiu will need documents from their work places or self declarations to be able to travel inside the localities in lockdown or between them. Shops will be open until 10 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday shops in shopping malls will be closed, except for pharmacies and food stores. People over the age of 65 can go shopping between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and religious services will be held in the open air. We remind that in 11 counties of Romania the cumulated rate of COVID-19 infections in 14 days per 1 thousand inhabitants exceeded 5 per thousand. Vrancea county (east) remains the county with the lowest infection rate (1.64 per thousand). Over 7 thousand new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the past 24 hours, most of them in Bucharest and the counties of Constanta and Brasov. 113 deaths have been reported, with 1,169 patients currently in ICUs.
Moldova – The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Monday had a phone conversation with the President elect of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu during which they have agreed on extending and deepening the strategic partnership for Moldova’s European integration. A first step in this sense will be the official visit which the Romanian president is going to pay to Chisinau in the coming period, shows a presidential administration communiqué. Klaus Iohannis said that the result obtained by Maia Sandu represented a victory of democracy and marked a decisive step towards Moldova’s irreversible European path, which Romania has permanently supported and will continue to support without reservation. The pro-European candidate Maia Sandu defeated, in the 2nd round of the presidential election in Moldova, the pro-Russian candidate Igor Dodon.
Gaudeamus – The 27th edition of the Gaudeamus Book Fair organized by Radio Romania started today online. The event will end on Sunday and will unfold exclusively online due to the new coronavirus pandemic. On the website of the event gaudemaous.ro you can find more than 100 companies, among which prestigious book publishers and distributors, music and educational games, with individual presentation pages dedicated to the fair. Also book lovers can access the participants’ virtual stands and readers can buy books online. As many as 200 events can be followed online. Writer Norman Manea, nominated several times for the Nobel Prize for Literature, is the honorary president of this edition of the Gaudeamus book fair.
Covid-19 world — There are more than 54.8 million confirmed cases of Covid-19 around the world, with 1.3 million deaths reported, according to data provided by worldometers.info. The biggest number of cases and deaths from Covid-19 is reported by the US that exceeded 11.3 million cases of contamination. India has so far reported 8.8 million cases and around 130 thousand deaths and Brazil more 5.8 million cases with 165 thousand deaths. Europe is equally affected by the 2nd wave of the pandemic, with France and Russia having exceeded the threshold of 1.9 million cases of infection. Spain is nearing 1.5 million and Great Britain 1.4 million. In London the PM Boris Johnson is in self-isolation after having been in contact with a person that tested positive for Covid-19. In turn, Austria will undertake mass testing for COVID-19 as of Tuesday until December 6, after Slovakia conducted rapid tests for approximately 3.6 million people of the country’s total population of 5.5 million. (tr. L. Simion)
