November 29, 2020

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 29.11.2020, 14:00

COVID-19 IN ROMANIA – Over 11,000 people have died
to the COVID-19 virus since the start of the outbreak, and some 466 thousand
people got infected, 70% of whom have recovered. 1,249 people are in intensive
care. Bucharest is the most affected city in Romania. 6,914 Romanians living
abroad tested positive for COVID-19, 127 of whom have died.

COVID-19 IN THE
WORLD – Over 62.6 million people around the world have been infected with
SARS-CoV-2 since the beginning of the outbreak, the latest worldometers.info
update reveals. The global death toll now exceeds 1.4 million. The three most
affected countries are the United States, India and Brazil. In Europe, starting
December 1, stores will reopen in Belgium, Prime Minister Alexander De Croo has
announced, although the country will remain in partial quarantine to allow
efforts to contain the pandemic. Belgium has been severely affected by the
second wave of the pandemic and has been under lockdown since October 30. In
France, the authorities are easing restrictions, allowing shops selling
non-essential products to reopen. People can also leave their homes for up to
three hours for leisure time and physical exercise. The decision comes just shy
of a month of harsh lockdown restrictions, which has led to a slump in the
number of daily infections in this country.

BRUA – Romania’s President Klaus
Iohannis attended the completion of the first phase in the BRUA pipeline
project, in an event hosted by Jupa in Caraş Severin County. The President said
the delivery of new natural gas supplies will better meet internal demand and
will add predictability and stability to the national distribution network.
BRUA seeks to develop a natural gas interconnector linking Bulgaria, Romania,
Hungary and Austria to the southern corridor transporting gas from Azerbaijan.
The Romanian gas company Transgaz announced the first gas supplies via the new
BRUA pipeline will be delivered next week, from Romania to Hungary.

NATIONAL
DAY
– December 1, the National Day of Romania, will this year be celebrated in a
restricted ceremony, to be attended by doctors, medical staff and foreign
ambassadors. The traditional military parade organized on this occasion was
cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Restricted ceremonies will also be held
in big cities across the country, to be attended by local authorities. The
Foreign Ministry this year marks the National Day by means of a digital
diplomacy project, a virtual dialogue space where friends and partners of
Romania, but also members of Romanian communities abroad can meet and exchange
opinions in a novel environment adapted to the challenges posed by the global
health context. Over November 28 -
December 1, in a special section on the Ministry website, mae.ro, the Foreign
Ministry is promoting Romanian talent and history, with a focus on classical
and contemporary music, theatre, performing and visual arts. The Ministry is
also making public a number of diplomatic documents from its archive. The
virtual section will also include an area devoted to online actions carried out
by Romania’s diplomatic missions and consular offices.

HANDBALL – Romania’s women’s
handball team are preparing for the European Championship hosted by Denmark
between December 3 and 20. Romania is playing in Group D in the final
tournament, alongside Norway, Germany and Poland, with the games taking place
in the town of Kolding. On December 3, Romania will play Germany. On December 5
it will take on Poland, then it will play Norway on December 7. Denmark is the
sole host of the tournament after the second designated host, neighboring
Norway, pulled out. On November 16, only 17 days before the first game was due,
Oslo announced that healthcare constraints related to the COVID-19 pandemic
prevent it from organizing the competition.

BASKETBALL – The Romanian men’s basketball
team on Monday is playing the world champion, Spain, in Valencia, in a fixture
counting towards the FIBA EuroBasket 2022 preliminary Group A. On Saturday,
Romania lost 91-61 to Poland. After three matches, Romania has zero points and
is bottom of the group tables. The last group fixtures will be played next
year. The top three teams in each group will qualify to the 2022 European
Championship. (V. Palcu)