April 13, 2020

Click here for a roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 13.04.2020, 14:15

COVID 333 new infections with the new cornoavirus have been registered in
Romania since the latest estimate bringing the toll to 6633. 914 of those
infected have been cured and released from hospitals. 213 patients are in the
intensive care units while other 318 people died. 47 Romanian nationals have
been killed by the virus abroad. Authorities are expected the pandemic to reach
its peak in the following period. In another development the country’s health
minister Nelu Tataru decided jointly with Defence Minister Nicolae Ciuca that army
medical personnel take over the management of the county hospital in Focsani
southern Romania, after 15 medical workers in this unit had been infected with
the new coronavirus.

DRILL Romanian servicemen and their US counterparts are participating in a
joint drill at the training center in Babadag, south-eastern Romania, sources
with the National Defence Ministry in Bucharest have announced. The exercise
will simulate an air attack against a ground objective as well as an operation
of recovering a downed aircraft. According to the Defence Ministry, all the
measures imposed in order to limit the coronavirus outbreak have been strictly
observed during the exercise.

PAY CUTS The Romanian government is expected to decide this week,
which categories of state employees will be affected by technical unemployment
measures the government intends to impose during the state of emergency.
According to a scenario mentioned by Prime Minister Ludovic Orban, some state
employees will be paid only 75% of their salaries. The government is also
expected to be reassessing the first budget adjustment this year. The
Ministries of Health and Labour will be the first to benefit from more funds due
to the Coronavirus pandemic. More money will be channeled towards medical
leaves and the purchase of the necessary medical equipment.

EASTER Orthodox Christians, who are a majority in Romania, and
Greek-Catholics are in the Holy Week during which they mark the last days in
the life of their Lord Jesus Christ. Due to quarantine measures, believers will
be watching religious services broadcast live while staying at home. Catholics
and protestants yesterday spent Easter with empty churches and religious
services broadcast by various TV or online channels. Visits to relatives and
friends were banned. In his traditional Easter message from the Vatican, Pope
Francis said there is no time now for indiference, divisions and negligence.

PANDEMIC According to the latest toll,
over 1.85 million people have been infected with the new coronavirus worldwide.
Nearly 115 thousand of them died while 430 thousand have been cured. The USA
ranks first with 550 thousand people infected and 22 thousand deaths. The most
affected is the state of New York, which registered 37 hundred new cases on
Sunday night reaching a total of 188 thousand. In Europe, some of the countries
most affected by the pandemic, like Spain and Italy are renouncing some
quarantine measures after the number of infections started to decrease. The
governments in Rome and Madrid are taking measures to gradually revitalize
their economies. Spain decided to resume activities in some manufacturing
industries and in construction while the Italian authorities will allow the
resumption of some businesses. Several strict measures will still be in place
with some companies to limit the number of infections, while the authorities
are going to provide millions of masks to the workers

(translated by
bill)