August 11, 2020 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 11.08.2020, 20:06

Corona — In the past 24 hours Romanian has reported 1,215 new cases of infection with the new coronavirus, the total number of cases reaching 63,762. Over 30 thousand patients have recovered and 2,764 have died. A record number of people- 485 are no in intensive care. The PM Ludovic Orban has said the state of alert will most probably be extended, but a decision in this respect will be taken based on the epidemiological evolution. Orban will present Parliament on Wednesday, at the request of the latter, with a report on how his government handled the coronavirus crisis. Also on Wednesday, Parliament will debate a report of the Court of Accounts as regards the purchases made by the government during the medical crisis. In another development, Spain is no longer on the yellow list of countries with a high epidemiological risk, so people travelling to Romania from Spain will no longer be quarantined for 14 days. Many Romanian citizens living in Spain were preparing to return to Romania this month.

Săvârşin royal estate — The royal estate in Săvârşin, Arad county, in western Romania, will open its gates to the public in early summer of 2021. The Royal Family of Romania’s webpage writes that the public will have access to the Royal Automobile Museum, part of the Royal Village and the park. The Castle in Săvârşin is surrounded by a dendrological park of 6.5 hectares that has a lake and a pier. Arranged to its present form in 1830, the park is one of the oldest in Romania. The Royal Automobile Museum showcases several cars from the late King Mihai I’s collection, which were brought from his residence in Switzerland. According to the tradition established by the late King, the Romanian Royal Family spends their winter and summer holidays at the Săvârşin castle, the only private residence they hold in Romania.

Allowances — The Romanian Senate on Tuesday rejected the government emergency ordinance under which child allowances were to be increased by 20% as of September 1. The opposition Social Democratic Party had announced they did not agree with the gradual increase proposed by the government, as they wanted a doubling of allowances. The document next goes to the Chamber of Deputies, a decision-making body. Therefore, if MPs reject the ordinance, the law obliging the government to double child allowances remains in force. The doubling of child allowances was proposed by the Social Democrats and voted for in December 2019, but the implementation of the measure was repeatedly postponed by the government that claims that the budget does not have enough money for that purpose.

Brussels — The European Commission has announced it will provide 128 million Euros to support 23 new research projects related to the new coronavirus pandemic. The money will be used by specialists to develop digital medical technologies as well as to improve the way of treating large groups of patients from the whole of Europe. The Commissioner for Research and Innovation Mariya Gabriel has said that the emergency funding from the Horizon 2020 Program will allow researchers to rapidly develop solutions with and for patients, the medical staff, hospitals, local communities and companies, to better manage and survive infections with the new coronaviurs.

Tennis — The Romanian tennis player, world’s number. 2 Simona Halep on Tuesday won a difficult victory 6-1, 1-6, 7-6 (7-3) against the Slovene Polona Hercog (46 WTA) in the first round of the WTA tournament in Prague, which offers total prizes worth more than 200 thousand dollars. In the next round, Halep will be up against the Czech Barbora Krejcikova (118 WTA) who, on Tuesday, eliminated the Romanian Patricia Tig (86 WTA). Also on Tuesday, another Romanian Irina Begu (82 WTA) defeated the Latvian player 9th seeded Anastasija Sevastova, in the first round of the same tournament. Romania’s Gabriela Ruse (173 WTA), who managed to enter the main singles competition after defeating the German Tamara Korpatsch, was eliminated on Tuesday in the first round by the Polish player Magdalena Frech (174 WTA). Top seed Simona Halep will also play in the doubles, where on Wednesday she will play alongside Barbora Strycova of the Czech Republic, world’s no. 2 in the doubles competition. Halep, Wimbledon title holder, is playing her first official matches after a break caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. (L. Simion)