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November 18, 2020 UPDATE

Covid- 19 Romania – Romania registered on Wednesday a new record-high number of COVID cases, 10,269 in the past 24 hours. The total number of contaminations thus exceeds 383 thousand cases since the onset of the pandemic. Around 70% of the patients have recovered. According to the Strategic Communication Group, another 168 people infected with the new coronavirus have died, taking the total death toll to 9,429. President Klaus Iohannis said it was necessary to modernize hospitals’ medical gas systems and electric grids, and a financing program from European funds will be prepared in this sense. He underlined that legislative and financial tools needed to be reconsidered so as to allow the support of the maintenance service system of hospital equipment. President Iohannis made these statements after Saturday’s fire at the ICU of a hospital in northeastern Romania, which killed and wounded patients and medical staff. The Romanian President on Wednesday had a new meeting with the PM and health officials for the assessment and presentation of the measures taken to manage the Covid-19 pandemic.

Newsroom, 18.11.2020, 20:19

Covid-19 world — Over 55.7 million people the world over have been contaminated with the new coronavirus since the start of the pandemic, and more than 1.3 million have died, shows Johns Hopkins University of Medicine. The US is the most affected, with 11.3 million cases and almost 249 thousand deaths. India reports almost 8.9 million cases of contamination and 130 thousand deaths and Brazil 5.9 million cases and 167 thousand deaths. In Europe, the number of new cases dropped last week for the first time in the past three months, but the number of deaths continued to grow, show data published by the WHO. The American company Pfizer announced on Wednesday that the final results of the phase III clinical trials for its anti-Covid-19 vaccine, developed together with the German company BioNTech, show a 95% efficiency of the vaccine and that they would submit a request for authorization to the authorities. The company also says that the vaccine has been well tolerated, the only notable side effects being fatigue, in 3.8% of the cases and headaches in 2% of the cases.

CCR — Romania’s Constitutional Court rejected on Wednesday the notification made by the governing Liberal Party and Save Romania Union regarding the appointment of the Social Democrat MP Florin Iordache to the position of president of the Legislative Council. The signatories of the notification showed that Iordache was appointed president of the Legislative Council without having obtained the necessary number of votes. Also they claim that Iordache does not meet the condition related to a good professional and moral reputation, as required by law. In his capacity as minister of justice, he promoted changes regarding the criminal codes, amnesty and pardon that generated large-scale street protests in Bucharest, other cities of Romania and the Diaspora. The leftist government of the time was accused, that, through these modifications, it tried to help corrupt politicians escape prison sentences.

Budget — The budget rectification prepared by Romania’s Government is based in an economic downturn of 4.2% in 2020 and a budget deficit of 9.1% of the GDP — said Wednesday the finance minister Florin Citu. Thus the general consolidated budget deficit is estimated to reach by the end of 2020 96 billion lei, that is 20 billion Euros. Previously the PM Ludovic Orban had mentioned the stipulation, upon the budget adjustment, of additional funding for the healthcare sector, the farmers affected by the drought and the local authorities, particularly those affected by the pandemic, and the town halls that have initiated investment projects and can no longer afford the co-financing. In another development, the EC says that, for the moment, no decision should be made in relation to the application of further measures within Romania’s excessive deficit procedure, in the context of the big uncertainties caused by the new coronavirus pandemic. In its autumn forecasts, the EC estimates that Romania’s deficit will exceed 10% of the GDP in 2020 and will continue to grow in the coming years.

Markets — Activity in enclosed market places will be resumed as soon as epidemiological conditions allow it and citizens’ safety can be ensured — said the Romanian PM Ludovic Orban at the consultations held on Wednesday alongside the agriculture minister Adrian Oros with the representatives of the associations of greengrocers, small producers and beekeepers. He explained that, at present, activity is allowed in open-air markets and that the measure to temporarily suspend enclosed markets was taken to protect the citizens’ health, especially of the elderly. Farmers’ organizations had previously protested against the closure of enclosed agrifood markets. They asked for compensations to make up for the losses incurred by peasants and small producers who were affected by the markets’ closure. (tr. L. Simion)