October 1, 2021
A roundup of domestic and international news
România Internațional, 01.10.2021, 13:55
Fire. A strong fire broke out today at the ICU of the Infectious Diseases Hospital in Constanţa (southeast), where firefighters intervened to evacuate patients. The General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations has confirmed that seven people have died. The entire hospital has been evacuated, and all health units in the county are on alert to take over patients. This is the tenth fire in less than 12 months taking place in one of the hospitals in Romania, many of them COVID units . Similar incidents took place at the end of last year, at the County Hospital in Piatra Neamţ (northeast), and at the beginning of this year at the Matei Balș Institute in Bucharest. Both resulted in deaths and injuries among patients treated for Covid-19 in intensive care. Controls carried at some Romanian hospital units have revealed that some of them do not have a fire safety permit.
Covid-19RO. 10,900 new cases of coronavirus infection were reported on Thursday in Romania, in some 67,000 tests. Also, 169 related deaths were reported, most of them in unvaccinated people. All of them had other underlying conditions. The number of people that need hospitalization is also on the rise. Currently there are 12,500 Covid-19 patients in hospitals, of whom 1,391 in intensive care. The National Committee for Emergency Situations has decided that it is mandatory to wear a protective mask in all indoor and outdoor public spaces when the 14-day infection rate exceeds 6 per thousand inhabitants. Regardless of the aggregated incidence rate, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education can allow the physical participation of all children in classes. On the other hand, the shops will close at 22.00 on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays if the incidence of Covid-19 exceeds the threshold of 6 per thousand inhabitants and also, starting the same hour, during the rest of the week if the infection rate in the locality is higher than 7.5 per thousand, the National Committee for Emergency Situations has also decided. Restaurants, performance halls and gyms will not close when the incidence reaches six cases of COVID per thousand inhabitants, but will be able to operate only up to 50% of the maximum capacity of the facility, where only vaccinated people or people whove had the disease will have access. The participation rule also applies to private events, such as weddings or baptisms.
Pandemic. The Romanian Committee for Emergency Situations has updated the list of countries and territories of high epidemiological risk. Romania has joined the red zone, along with the Republic of Moldova, Bulgaria, Armenia, Belarus and Greenland. Following the drop in the incidence rates, Austria, Switzerland, Gibraltar, Iran, the Maldives and the Bahamas are now in the yellow zone. The green zone now includes, among other countries, the Netherlands, Germany and France. Those vaccinated against COVID-19 would not be quarantined if they come from yellow or red list areas. The committee has decided to exempt from the quarantine measure the drivers of goods and passenger vehicles if they provide a negative result of an RT-PCR test. The new list takes effect on October 3.
Compensation. The Romanian Government is discussing today the mechanism for compensating the increase of energy prices and the mandatory vaccination of some categories of civil servants. The executive wants to adopt the draft law that will oblige the medical staff, the education staff and the staff of social institutions to be tested periodically, at their own expense, in the case of people who are not vaccinated. At the same time, if it has all the necessary approvals, the government wants to adopt two emergency ordinances to support the employees affected by the pandemic. One of them extends furlough until December 31. The ordinance applies to employees who become unemployed due to decisions taken by the authorities following the increase in the incidence rate. The other ordinance provides money for parents who stay at home with their children who are attending school online.
UK. As of today, citizens of the European Union can enter the UK only on the basis of a passport, a work or study visa or proof that they are tourists. Identity cards are no longer accepted as valid travel documents following Brexit. Nearly six million EU citizens, who were in the UK on 31 December 2020, were eligible to apply for residency and over 90% of them have received it. In their case, the identity card will continue to be accepted as a travel document until January 1, 2026. The new immigration system introduced this year means much more border controls, because the citizens of the Union no longer enjoy freedom of movement. According to the British newspaper “The Guardian”, in the first six months of the year, 7,249 European citizens were stopped at the entrance to Great Britain and 60% of them were from Romania. (MI)
