August 19, 2020 UPDATE
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 19.08.2020, 20:00
HORECA. Representatives of the HoReCa field in Romania held a press conference on Wednesday and criticized the authorities for the restrictive measures imposed on them due to the pandemic. As an act of protest, they closed restaurants and beer gardens for an hour. Restaurant and pub owners are especially dissatisfied with the fact that the restaurant halls remain closed and that could cause the loss of 400 thousand jobs in the cold season, as businesses will not be able to make it. They also claim that the idea that the tourism industry is the main factor in the spread of the coronavirus is an illusion and that major outbreaks were reported in other industries and departments. Prime Minister Ludovic Orban has said that as soon as the epidemiological situation has improved in Romania, the government will allow restaurants to open. According to the Romanian official, the measure was aimed at protecting citizens and not at dealing a heavy blow to the industry, which accounts for 5% of the countrys GDP.
COVID-19. Romania has confirmed over 73,600 infections since the beginning of the pandemic and a Covid-related death toll of 3,106. According to a report by the National Public Health Institute, the number of infections and fatalities last week slightly decreased as compared to the previous week. Almost one third of the new cases have been reported in the counties of Prahova, Arges, Bihor and Timis. Bucharest, Suceava in the north-east, and Arges in the countrys south have reported the highest number of infections since the beginning of the pandemic. Almost 95% of the deceased had at least one underlying condition, and almost 80% of the victims were over 60 years old. The Health Minister Nelu Tataru has warned that the number of young people infected with the new coronavirus is on the rise.
PANDEMIC. The number of reported coronavirus cases in the world has exceeded 22 million, and the death toll stands at some 777 thousand, according to Worldometers.info. India performed a record 900,000 tests in one day, discovering 55,000 positive people with Sars-Cov-2. The United States, Brazil and India are in the top three in terms of the number of cases of coronavirus infection. In terms of the number of deaths, the USA ranks first with over 168 thousand, followed by Brazil with over 106 thousand and Mexico with about 56 thousand. 1.9 million cases of coronavirus infection were recorded in Europe by Tuesday, with Spain topping the list, followed by the United Kingdom, Italy and Germany. In terms of number of deaths, Great Britain ranks first with over 41 thousand, followed by Italy with over 35 thousand. Airports and airlines requested, at a meeting of a UN working group, that passenger quarantine be replaced in all countries with the obligation to take a PCR test.
BELARUS. The EU member states do not recognize the result of the August 9 presidential election in Belarus, after which the current president Aleksandr Lukashenko was proclaimed the winner, EU leaders announced on Wednesday, at an extraordinary summit by videoconference. “The elections were neither fair nor free and did not meet international standards,” European Council President Charles Michel told a news conference at the end of the meeting. He also said the EU would adopt sanctions against the officials responsible for violence against protesters and electoral fraud. German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the six-month presidency of the EU Council, condemned the “brutal violence” against protesters. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis, who attended the summit, stressed that the rigging of election, the violent repression of protesters, and the inhuman treatment the detained citizens were subjected to could not be left unanswered by the EU. Massive protests broke out 10 days ago in Belarus, immediately after the end of the elections in which Lukashenko, who has been president of the country for more than 25 years, was proclaimed the winner with 80% of the votes. At least two people were killed, several hundred injured and more than 6,700 arrested. The Belarusian president on Wednesday ordered the government to end the unrest in the country and strengthen its borders.
US ELECTION. Joe Biden is the Democratic Partys nominee to challenge incumbent president Donald Trump in the US presidential election on November 3rd. Most of the Democrats endorsed the former vice-president to run for the presidential seat during the partys virtual convention in Milwaukee on Monday. The 77 year-old Joe Biden is expected to deliver his acceptance speech on Thursday. Unwilling to let the Democrats get the full attention of the media, Donald Trump has visited the states of Iowa, Arizona, Minnesota and Wisconsin and has renewed his attacks against the one he nicknamed Sleepy Joe whom he described as a helpless puppet of radical left.
INFLATION. Romania was among the EU countries with the highest annual inflation rate in July – 2.5%, compared to 2.2% in June, Eurostat reports. According to the European Statistical Office , the member states with the highest inflation rates remain Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Romania. At the opposite pole there stand Greece, Cyprus and Estonia. As against June, the annual inflation rate in July fell in 10 Member States, remained stable in three countries and rose in 14 EU countries. (M. Ignatescu)
