October 27, 2020

A news roundup

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Newsroom, 27.10.2020, 14:17

Covid-19 Ro — Another 4,724 new cases of COVID-19 were announced on Tuesday in Romania and a record number of deaths was also reported, 104 in one single day, with the total death toll nearing 6,500. More than 820 people are in ICUs. On Tuesday President Iohannis will meet with the health minister Nelu Tataru, the president of the Romanian Society of, Prof. Dorel Sandel and the chief of Section I- Anesthesia and Intensive Care of the Military Hospital in Bucharest, colonel doctor Dan Corneci to assess and review the measures meant to manage the Covid-19 crisis. The government had a first reading of a draft emergency decree meant to increase the number of medical staff by immediately hiring all graduates who have passed the final medical residency exam in specializations such as intensive care, emergency medicine, pulmonology, infectious diseases, epidemiology and radiology. After a period of 6 months of work in a hospital subordinated to the Interior Ministry, these graduates will be distributed, without examination, to the medical units with vacancies, the state secretary Raed Arafat explained.

COVID-19 world — The total number of COVID-19 cases has exceeded 43.7 million around the world, with more than 1.16 million deaths being reported. The number of recovered patients stands at almost 32.18 million, according to Worldometer.info. The most affected countries are the US, Brazil and India. Against the backdrop of a growing number of contaminations, many European states are introducing further restrictions to combat the spread of the news virus. A WHO high official said that Europe needed to seriously accelerate the fight against the new coronavirus and that the lack of capacity for contact-tracing might push the disease into a grey area. The WHO warns that new travel restrictions and home isolation measures might be needed to be able to control the virus. Europe provides 46% of the total number of contaminations worldwide and almost one third of the deaths.

Visit — The Romanian PM Ludovic Orban continues today his visit to Paris where he will meet separately with the speakers of the French Parliament’s two chambers. He will also participate in several meetings organized by the French Employers’ Union and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. On Monday, following talks with his French counterpart Jean Castex important agreements were signed for strengthening political, economic and military ties between Romania and France. France, as a strategic partner, will get involved in developing Romania’s capacity to produce nuclear energy and a declaration in this sense was signed, after early this month, Romania and the US signed an agreement for the building of two new nuclear reactors. The Romanian PM’s visit to Paris will end with a meeting with the representatives of the Romanian community in France.

US elections – One week ahead of the U.S. presidential election the Democrat candidate Joe Biden maintains his advance in several key states as against his challenger, the acting president, Republican Donald Trump. A latest survey published by the Center for election research of the Wisconsin-Madison University shows that Joe Biden is 10 points ahead of Trump in Michigan. Pennsylvania is the state where the two candidates have a tight score, 52% for Biden and 44% for Trump. President Trump on Monday had 3 meetings in Pennsylvania, where he accused Joe Biden of wanting to dismantle the oil industry of the US. While Donald Trump spoke to thousands of supporters, most of the time not wearing a protective mask, Joe Biden had a more prudent approach in his effort to show that he is taking the new coronavirus pandemic seriously.

Prosecution – In Bucharest MPs approved the request of the National Anticorruption Directorate — DNA to start in prosecution of MP Nicolae Banicioiu who is accused of influence peddling and bribe taking. The DNA claims that when he was a minister of youth and sports he asked almost 1 million Euros worth of bribe from two businessmen to do them various favors. Nicolae Banicioiu rejected all accusations and called on his colleagues to vote for the DNA’s request. A former minister of youth and health, he obtained a 4^th mandate as MP, being elected each time on the lists of the Social Democratic Party. In 2018 he changed parties, going to Pro Romania party, headed by the former Social Democratic PM Victor Ponta. (tr. L. Simion)