March 21, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 21.03.2021, 19:15

Covid10-RO. Starting next week, the pace of anti-COVID vaccination in Romania will step up. Another 167 immunization centers will be opened across the country. Prime Minister Florin Cîţu announced on Sunday that in the next period, 80,000 people will be vaccinated daily. So far, more than 1.7 million people have received at least one dose of vaccine, most of them Pfizer-BioNTech, but also Moderna and AstraZeneca. Nearly 750,000 people have signed up on the waiting lists. Florin Cîţu has stated that Romania will not enter a lockdown, but urged the Romanians to respect the protection measures, in order to get over this period of pandemic. On Sunday, authorities reported more than 4,200 new cases of contamination and 76 deaths. 1,334 patients are in intensive care, a new record since the beginning of the pandemic. In total, some 900 thousand cases and over 22 thousand deaths have been registered in Romania. The Bucharest Committee for Emergency Situations has decided to extend by 14 days the restrictions in force in the capital. Bucharest and eight other counties are in the red scenario, with an incidence of cases higher than three per thousand inhabitants. On Saturday, the cities of Iasi (northeast) and Oradea (west) entered the red zone too, and several towns and villages around the capital are in quarantine.

Protests. Despite the negative evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic, many protests were staged on Saturday across Europe against the restrictions imposed by authorities. In London, police gave fines and arrested several protesters. Protests were also reported in several German cities, including the capital Berlin. In Switzerland, in the town of Listal, more than 3,000 people demanded the lifting of restrictions and said authorities had taken the country hostage for more than a year. Similar accusations were made in the Bulgarian capital, Sofia. Protesters said the inadequate measures taken by the authorities had led to a severe economic and health crisis, destroying small and medium-sized enterprises, while thousands of people were left without jobs and any possibility of earning a living. Anti-restriction and anti-vaccination protests took place in Bucharest and in other cities across Romania as well. Fines were given in the capital and the organizers were sanctioned for exceeding the maximum number of 100 participants allowed and for not ensuring the observance of sanitary protection rules. Some of the participants were also fined.

EU meeting. The Romanian Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu will attend on Monday, a meeting of the EU foreign ministers, in Brussels. According to a ministry communiqué, the agenda of talks includes the latest developments in the relation between the EU and Russia, the situation in Georgia, the EU approach to the Western Balkans, the situation in Venezuela, Myanmar and Ethiopia. The EU – Turkey relations and aspects concerning the southern neighborhood will also be addressed, in preparation for the European Council summit on March 25-26.

SeaShield21. Sea Shield 21, the largest and most complex NATO multinational exercise organized by the Romanian Naval Forces in 2021, in the Black Sea area, continues until March 29. More than 2,400 soldiers from eight states, 18 warships and 10 aircraft are participating. The simulations are coordinated by the Romanian Naval Forces. According to the Romanian Defense Ministry, the exercise is attended by soldiers from Bulgaria, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain, the United States and Turkey. The main objective of the multinational exercise Sea Shield 21 is to verify and strengthen the level of interoperability and cooperation between the Romanian Naval Forces and other categories of forces in the Romanian Army, various structures subordinated to the Ministry of Interior and other allied naval forces. It includes all stages of a NATO naval military operation in response to a geopolitical crisis in the region and has the role of demonstrating the Romanian Armys constant commitment to strengthening the Alliances maritime position in a volatile security environment. After the illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by the Russian Federation, in 2014, the Romanian Naval Forces proposed to NATO allies to introduce this tactical exercise on the agenda of collective training programs, to develop the interoperability of forces in all combat environments (maritime, submarine, land and air).The first edition of the Multinational Exercise Sea Shield took place in 2015, and in the following years its scenarios were adapted to respond, quickly and efficiently, to the full spectrum of threats to maritime security and regional stability.

Tennis. The Romanian-Ukrainian pair Raluca Olaru / Nadia Kicenok on Sunday won the final of the WTA tournament in St. Petersburg (Russia), with more than 565,000 dollars in prize money. They defeated the American pair Kaitlyn Christian / Sabrina Santamaria in two sets. In the semifinals Raluca Olaru / Nadia Kicenok had defeated the Romanian-Dutch pair Monica Niculescu / Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove, and Kaitlyn Christian / Sabrina Santamaria had eliminated the pair Oksana Kalashnikova (Georgia) / Ala Kudriavteva (Russia). Romanian Raluca Olaru now has 10 WTA doubles titles and has played 11 finals. Her last title dates back to 2018 (Rabat, Morocco), but last year she played finals in Prague (along with Monica Niculescu) and Rome. Her colleague Nadia Kicenok has won 5 doubles titles and has played another 6 finals.

Handball. The Romanian womens handball national team defeated on Sunday evening the national team of the host country, in its last match of the pre-Olympic tournament in Podgorica, Montenegro, but failed to qualify for the Olympic Games in Tokyo this summer. On Saturday, in the first match, the Romanians were defeated 29-24 by Norway, the team that has two Olympic titles, three world and eight European titles and is the defending continental champion. All the other teams got two points each, but according to the regulation, the first two best scoring teams qualify, in this case Montenegro and Norway.

Weather. The National Meteorological Administration in Romania issued, on Sunday, a warning for precipitations, wind intensifications and cold weather, valid until Tuesday morning throughout the country. According to the specialized forecast, the area of ​​moderate rainfall (15 – 20 l / sqm) will gradually include the south and south-east of the country, where there will be rain, sleet, and periods of snow. In the Southern and Curvature Carpathians it will snow and a new layer of snow will form over the previous, very consistent one. Also, precipitation, weak in quantity, predominantly in the form of snow will be reported over small areas in the center and in the rest of the mountainous area, and the wind will have local and temporary intensifications, especially in the south. The weather will be particularly cold in most parts of the country and during the day on Monday in the southern and south-eastern regions the thermal values ​​will be 10 degrees lower than the climatic averages of the period. Meteorologists have also warned that, until Friday, March 26, the weather will remain particularly cold, with mostly negative temperatures during the nights and mornings. (MI).