February 3, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 03.02.2021, 19:56

Covid-19. 2,752 new cases of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 have been registered in the last 24 hours in Romania, following more than 33,000 tests at national level, the Strategic Communication Group announced on Wednesday. During the same period, 87 people diagnosed with Covid-19 died. Almost eight thousand patients with COVID-19 are hospitalized in specialized health units, of whom 1,006 in intensive care. Since the outbreak of the pandemic, over 735 thousand people have been infected in Romania, and about 90% have recovered. The vaccination campaign continues, and Romania ranks 4th in the European Union in terms of vaccination coverage, with a rate of 3.75% , said on Tuesday, the president of the National Committee for Coordination of Vaccination Activities against SARS-CoV-2, military doctor Valeriu Gheorghiţă. He added that the EU average is about 2.95%. About 620,000 Romanians have been vaccinated so far. The vaccine delivery schedule is much delayed, as in all European countries, but the manufacturing companies have given assurances that, from the middle of this month, the number of delivered doses will increase.

School. Romanian schools, high schools and kindergartens will be reopened starting Monday, February 8, when the second semester starts. The National Committee for Emergency Situations adopted on Wednesday the decision that includes the three scenarios based on which the educational units will be opened, depending on the infection rate in each locality. In the case of military and police high schools, these scenarios do not apply. The Minister of Education, Sorin Cîmpeanu, said on Wednesday that the Government adopted an emergency ordinance that provides, for the second semester of this school year, an amount of 30 million Euro for the development and payment of remedial classes, and a target group of students will be established, including those who did not have access to the Internet or IT equipment or did not have their school record completed in the first semester. The decision of the Romanian authorities is in line with that of most European Union states.

Visit. Romanian President Klaus Iohannis received on Wednesday the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs, Arancha Gonzalez Laya, who paid an official visit to Bucharest. The two officials underlined the excellent level of the bilateral relationship, marked, in 2021, by the 140th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Romania and Spain. The head of state stressed the need to intensify cooperation in the economic sphere, especially by increasing the Spanish investment presence in Romania. The president also reiterated the importance of the large community of Romanians settled in Spain, which has contributed substantially to strengthening ties between the two countries. The head of diplomacy in Madrid met, on Wednesday, with the Romanian prime minister, Florin Cîțu and with her Romanian counterpart, Bogdan Aurescu. During the discussions, the substantial character of the Strategic Partnership between Romania and Spain was highlighted. Arancha González Laya announced that the meeting of the Romanian and Spanish governments will most likely take place in June this year. The Spanish official appreciated the contribution of the Romanian community (over 1 million people), to the Spanish society.

Tourists. The Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu sent a letter to his Mexican counterpart Marcelo Ebrard on Wednesday, reiterating the Bucharest authorities concern and dissatisfaction with the arbitrary manner in which Mexican authorities have refused Romanian citizens access to Mexico, calling for an immediate stop of such an abusive practice. Romania considers that the return decisions have not been sufficiently clearly explained and communicated to each Romanian citizen involved or to the Romanian authorities and expresses its surprise at the lack of any prior signals on this subject from the Mexican authorities, as is customary in good bilateral relations. Earlier, Minister Bogdan Aurescu said he was very upset because of how the Romanian tourists were treated and announced that he would ask for clarification of the reasons why Romanians were denied access to Mexico, as well as the conditions under which they are held at the airport. 114 Romanians blocked by the Mexican authorities at the airport in Cancún will soon be brought home with a flight of the German company Lufthansa, arranged by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bucharest. In this context, the MFA calls on the Romanian citizens who intend or were going to travel in the next period in Mexico to postpone their trip, until the situation is clarified and remedied. In this regard, a travel warning was also issued.

Cooperation. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Romania, in collaboration with the Embassy of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in Romania held on Wednesday the “Romania – Pakistan Online Business Forum”, having as main objective the promotion of bilateral trade. In this regard, a “match-making” session was organized between the participating companies from the two countries, in the form of separate panels, depending on the field of activity, namely: light industry, machinery and equipment, the food industry and the extractive industry. “Romania and Pakistan have a long relationship of friendship and collaboration, the Romanian specialists from the 70s and 80s being the ones who laid the foundations of Pakistani industry. Thus, it becomes almost a duty to double our efforts in terms of increasing the volume of bilateral trade”, said Zafar Iqbar, Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to Romania. In 2019, trades between the two countries exceeded 400 thousand euros, of which 318 thousand euros in exports. Also, in the first 9 months of 2020, the value of trade exchanges had exceeded 510 thousand euros, and in terms of exports an increase of 55% was reported.

Bills. The government in Bucharest approved, in Wednesdays meeting, the granting by Romania of an emergency external humanitarian aid for Croatia, following the earthquake that took place, in December, near Zagreb. The value of the aid is about 130,000 euros. The executive also approved a draft law that repeals a normative act that prohibited the sale, for a period of 2 years, of state-owned participations in national companies and societies. This is the repeal of Law 173 of 2020 on some measures to protect national interests in economic activities. The law, initiated by the Social Democratic Party and voted by the Social-Democratic majority in the previous Parliament, did not allow the sale or listing on the stock exchange of shares held by the state in national companies. The bill adopted by the Executive on Wednesday will be sent to Parliament for approval. The government has also approved a memorandum on the allocation of 50 million euros from European funds to improve hospital warning systems to ensure increased patient safety.

Tennis. All tennis matches scheduled for Thursday in Melbourne in preparation for the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, have been canceled. The measure was taken by the organizers after detecting a case of coronavirus infection at a hotel where several hundred players and members of the technical staff were in mandatory quarantine before the competition. The decision also affects the Romanian tennis players present at these tournaments. Simona Halep, the world number two, was to play on Thursday in the quarterfinals of the Gippsland Trophy (WTA 500) in Melbourne, with over 565 thousand dollars in prize money, with the Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova (33 WTA). In the same competition, Irina Begu (79 WTA) was to meet the Japanese Naomi Osaka (3 WTA) in the quarterfinals. The matches in the doubles event were also canceled. The Gippsland Trophy is a preparatory tournament for the Australian Open, which starts on February 8. (M. Ignatescu)