February 3, 2021

The latest news and main stories today.

Newsroom, 03.02.2021, 13:55

Romania
Covid update. More than 600,000 people have received the Covid vaccine in Romania,
of whom 140,000 also received the second dose. The total number of infections
passed 735,000 on Wednesday, almost one year since the first case was reported
in this country, while the death toll hit 18,600 have died. More than 1,000
Covid patients are in intensive care.

Schools. Education minister Sorin Cîmpeanu said
today that he will issue a joint order together with the health minister
containing all the measures for the reopening of schools in Romania as of 8th
February. The order will stipulate the rules to be respected when children
physically return to classrooms beginning with the second semester. Schools,
high schools and kindergartens will be reopening for in-person learning in
Romania next week, Romania thus joining most European Union countries in
this respect.

Romania-Spain.
Spain’s foreign minister Arancha González
Laya today began an official visit to Romania. According to a foreign ministry
statement, the trip comes in the context of Romania and Spain’s celebrating the
140th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year and ahead of a
joint meeting of the two governments also this year. Arancha González Laya
will be meeting prime minister Florin Cîţu and her counterpart Bogdan Aurescu
and will be received by president Klaus Iohannis. This is Laya’s first foreign
trip this year and takes place at the invitation of her Romanian counterpart. The
two foreign ministers are expected to discuss a series of topical issues on the
bilateral, European and international agenda.

Aid.
The Romanian government is expected to approve emergency humanitarian to Croatia
in the wake of December’s earthquake near Zagreb, aid worth some 130,000 euros.
In its meeting today, the government is also due to approve a number of
measures in the education system, including payments to teachers doing extra
hours for pupils to catch up on lost learning during online teaching. An
amendment to a loan agreement signed in 2014 by the Romanian government and the
International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and linked to a project
to reform the healthcare system and improve its quality and efficiency is also expected
to be approved today. The total cost of the project is estimated at 250 million
euros.

Moldova-France.
The pro-western president of the Republic of Moldova Maia Sandu is in Paris
today and tomorrow for official talks with her French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.
She will also be meeting the French minister for Europe and foreign affairs Jean-Yves
Le Drian and other officials. According to the president’s office in Chişinău, the
trip to France is meant to give a new impetus to the political, economic and
cultural relations between the two countries. This is Maia Sandu’s third visit
abroad, after Kiev and Brussels. After taking office, at the end of last year,
she met Romanian president Klaus Iohannis in Chișinău and together signed a joint declaration on
the consolidation of bilateral strategic partnership.

Russia. The US and other western
powers have met with concern Russia’s jailing of Putin critic Alexei Nalavny
and the violent reprisal of anti-government protests and have called for his immediate
release. On Tuesday, the Russian police arrested more than 900 people during a
pro-Navalny rally. Navalny had been detained since 17th January when
he returned from Germany where he had received treatment for a Novichok
poisoning he blames on president Vladimir Putin and the Russian secret services.
His arrest led to large street protests, with the police using force and making
thousands of arrests.

Tourism. 6.3 million tourists
visited Romania last year, half compared with 2019. More than 90% were
Romanians and only 7% from abroad, according to the National Institute for
Statistics. The most popular destinations were Constanţa county,
in the south-east, on the Black Sea coast, the mountain city of Braşov and the
capital Bucharest. Most foreign tourists who visited Romania last year came
from Germany, Italy, France, Israel and the UK.

Tennis. World no. 2 Simona Halep of
Romania today defeated Germany’s Laura
Siegemund to reach the quarterfinals of the Gippsland Trophy tennis tournament in
Melbourne, in Australia. Halep will next be playing Russia’s Ekaterina Alexandrova. Another Romanian player, Irina
Begu, defeated UK’s Johanna Konta in three sets and will be facing world no. 3
Naomi Osaka of Japan in the quarterfinals. Gippsland Trophy is organised as a
lead-up to the Australian Open, which gets under way on 8th
February. In another similar tournament, Grampians Trophy, also held in Melbourne,
Romania’s Sorana
Cîrstea defeated Georgia’s Oksana Kalashnikova to reach the round of last 16,
where she will be playing second seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland. (CM)