November 20, 2020

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 20.11.2020, 13:55

Coronavirus Romania. Romania saw 9,272 new
coronavirus cases on Friday, with the total number now passing 400,000. 160 new
deaths were also reported, the death toll now standing at 9,765. 1,139 people
are in intensive care. Bucharest has run out of intensive care beds and a
number of patients were taken to hospitals in other cities on Thursday. Health
minister Nelu Tătaru says the
capacity of intensive care units will increase in the coming period and that an
assessment will be made of needed staff and equipment. Local lockdowns were
imposed in places with a spike in cases. On Thursday night, two villages near
Bucharest, Clinceni and Berceni, both with an infection rate of more than 10
per 1,000 inhabitants, were placed in lockdown. The south-eastern city of
Constanta also goes into lockdown today for two weeks.

Coronavirus world. Global coronavirus cases passed
57.2 million and fatalities 1.3 million. US president elect Joe Biden said he
would not order a national lockdown to fight the pandemic, despite cases
soaring in the US over the last few weeks. The president of the European
Commission Ursula von der Leyen said the Union could approve two Covid vaccines
by the end of the year, made by Pfizer and BioNTech and Moderna. The European
Medicines Agency may issue conditional marketing authorisation for these
vaccines in the second part of December at the earliest. In Greece, cases have
continued to rise despite measures, and the authorities are now closing the
country’s northern borders and take additional social distancing measures in
these areas. North Macedonia announced plans to declare a state of emergency to
curb the galloping rise in cases. The Regional Director for Europe at the World
Health Organisation, Hans Kluge,
said one person dies every 17 seconds from Covid-19 in Europe, where the
general mortality rate rose by almost a fifth in the last two weeks.

Face masks. Romania has so far issued four
safety notifications for non-conforming face masks made in China, the National
Consumer Protection Authority said today. The products in question are not
certified as protective equipment by a relevant body, so it’s possible they do
not meet the health and safety requirements in place. The notifications were
received by the EU rapid alert system for non-food products, also known as RAPEX.
The authorities have recommended that such products be withdrawn from the
market and have warned sellers to consult the consumer protection and RAPEX websites
before marketing them to make sure they are not banned. Recently, the National
Consumer Protection Authority withdrew over 31 million protective face masks
after checks conducted across the country.

EU budget. EU
leaders meeting in video conference format on Thursday night failed to reach a
breakthrough in talks on the bloc’s future multiannual budget, following
opposition from Hungary, Poland and Slovenia, who don’t agree with the idea of
linking funding to the rule of law. The EU leaders also discussed the
management of the coronavirus pandemic with a focus on the mutual recognition
of the results of Covid tests, the progress made in developing a vaccine and a
joint approach to lifting restrictions. Romania was represented by president Klaus
Iohannis, who, prior to the meting, had a telephone conversation with German
chancellor Angela Merkel. Iohannis said Romania constantly supported the need to
finalise the talks on the EU multiannual budget and the economic recovery plan
as soon as possible. He also emphasised that the mutual recognition of Covid
tests facilitates free movement within the EU and called for an efficient
communication campaign with respect to vaccination against the novel
coronavirus.

Book fair. The Radio Romania Gaudeamus Book Fair
continues with more online events and books launches. The highlights today
include new poetry collections, novels and new radio products for children. The
public can vote for their favourite book on the fair’s Facebook page. In the
first four days of the fair, the gaudeamus.ro website has had almost 35,000
single users and more than 150,000 visits. This year’s edition is held
exclusively online and brings together more than 100 participants, including
some of the biggest publishing houses in Romania and distributors of Romanian
and foreign books, music and games. The fair is coming to an end on Sunday.

Handball. The Romanian women’s handball side CSM
Bucharest on Thursday night lost to the Russian side Rostov on Don in a
Champions League Group A match. CSM were initially due to play at the weekend
against SC BBM Bietigheim from
Germany, but the match was postponed after the German side was quarantined.
This was the CSM’s final match in 2020, finishing the year second in their
group behind Rostov. In Group B, CSM Râmnicu
Vâlcea have lost all of their matches so far and will not be playing another
match this year. The competition breaks up after this weekend for the European
Championships held in Denmark and will be resumed in January. (CM)