October 15, 2020

A news roundup

Newsroom, 15.10.2020, 13:55

Covid-19 Romania — The Romanian government has decided to extend the state of alert by another 30 days, a measure enforced as of today. Another 4,013 new cases of contamination have been reported in the past 24 hours in Romania, the total number thus reaching 168,490, show data published by the Strategic Communication Group. This is the 2nd consecutive day when Romania reports more than 4 thousand cases per day. Also 73 new deaths have been announced, which takes the total death toll to 5,674. 721 patients are currently in ICUs. In another development, Romania has launched the first test allowing for the simultaneous detection of viruses that cause Covid-19 and seasonal flu. The test helps physicians to rapidly establish a correct diagnosis when the symptoms of the two diseases do not provide enough information about the virus type.

Covid-19 world — The number of new coronavirus cases around the world exceeded 38.7 million. 1.1 million people have died from Covid-19 and around 29 million have recovered. In the context of the second wave of the pandemic, more and more European states resume quarantine measures. France decided to reinstate the state of emergency in the coming weeks in the Paris region and in other 8 big cities and the surroundings. President Emmanuel Macron announced new restrictive measures and insisted on the need to improve the testing system. Italy reported Wednesday more than 7,300 cases of contamination, the highest level since March, while Germany reported over 6,600 new cases in 24 hours, a record for this country since the onset of the pandemic.

Brussels — The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis is participating on Thursday and Friday in the European Council meeting in Brussels. High on the agenda of talks are issues related to the Covid-19 pandemic, the future relations between the EU and the UK as well as the fight against climate change. President Iohannis will plead for increased coordination among the EU states in the context of a surge in the number of COVID-19 cases. As regards the EU-UK relations, the Romanian President will underline that the full implementation of the Brexit agreement by the UK authorities is a fundamental premise for building a future relation with the EU. In terms of climate change, Klaus Iohannis will highlight the importance of maintaining a flexible framework that should allow EU member states to identify the most adequate solutions for ensuring the green transition.

Renault – The French group Renault, that in 1999 took over the biggest Romanian car manufacturer, Dacia, presents in Paris today the Dacia Spring electric car model to be produced serially. The launch is part of the event devoted to electric mobility ‘Renault eWays’ which takes places 7 months after the presentation of the first car concept images. Dacia Spring is going to be the cheapest 100% electric car on the European car market, with a difference of 3 up to 4 thousand Euros from the competitors’ price. The starting price for Dacia Spring is 14- 16 thousand Euros, likely to drop under 10 thousand Euros after applying subsidies.

Romanian Post — The Romania Post Office announced the introduction of direct transport lines to Paris, operated by their own cars. The new route was inaugurated on October 13, when the first transport was made to Paris. The postal delivery vehicle, carrying more than one tonne of postal parcels, reached its destination on October 14 and started the return trip on the same day. There will be two postal transports per month between Bucharest and Paris. Thus, Paris is added to the list of destinations which the Romanian Post Office reaches by road. Other countries on the list are Bulgaria, Serbia, Hungary, the Republic of Moldova, Germany and Italy.

Economy — The Romanian government will support the EC in its effort to adopt as soon as possible the regulations related to the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework and the details regarding the economic recovery program adopted by the European Council, said Thursday the Romanian PM Ludovic Orban. The PM met Thursday with Johannes Hahn, the European Commissioner for Budget and Administration who is paying a visit to Bucharest. The European Commissioner will also meet with the deputy prime minister Raluca Turcan, the finance minister Florin Citu and the minister for European funds Ioan Marcel Bolos. (tr. L. Simion)