March 28, 2021

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Newsroom, 28.03.2021, 13:55

MEASURES A new series of measures aimed at fighting the Covid-19 pandemic
are coming into effect in Romania as of today. The new measures include a weekend
night curfew starting at 20 hours in regions with an infection rate that exceeds
four per thousand. In these regions shops are to close down at 18 hours while
in areas with an infection rate over 7.5 per thousand, restrictions will be in
force during the entire week. According to the latest data published by the
authorities, over 44 hundred new infections have been reported in Romania in
the past 24 hours most of them in Bucharest. A year on from the onset of the
pandemic, 930 thousand infections have been reported in Romania with a death
toll over 23 thousand. The number of Romanians who got at least a dose of the
anti-Covid vaccine has exceeded 1,900,000. Half of them have also been given
the booster dose.

HOLIDAY Catholic believers are today celebrating Palm Sunday
marking our Lord’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, where people welcomed him
with palm branches. This year in Italy, a country, which imposed some of the most
severe anti-Covid measures, religious services, including at the Vatican, will
be attended by a smaller number of believers. Palm Sunday also marks the
beginning of the Passion Week, when Christians are getting ready to celebrate
the Resurrection of Christ. According to Radio Romania correspondent in Rome,
this Passion Week is almost similar to that last year when Pope Francis prayed
alone in San Pietro square. This year, Catholic believers are celebrating
Easter on April 4th whereas the Orthodox, who are a majority in
Romania will mark the resurrection of Christ on May 2nd.

DST
Daylight Saving Time began in Romania last night when clocks were set one hour
forward and the difference between the local time and GMT became of three
hours. DST was first introduced in Romania back in 1932 but this might be the
last hour change as the European Parliament in 2019 voted in favour of
scrapping this measure inside the EU. Each member state is to decide whether to
keep implementing the DST or not. Countries willing to keep the summer hour
made the change last night, whereas those preferring the winter hour are to
make the final change in the last Sunday of October.

FOOTBALL Romania’s national football side are today playing their second
game in the World Cup 2022 preliminaries against Germany. Our footballers on
Thursday clinched 3-2 home win against North Macedonia and are to take on
Armenia in an away game on the last day of March. Romania’s group also includes
Iceland and Lichtenstein and the first side in the ranking qualifies for the
final tournament. Sides on the second position are to play tie matches. On
Saturday night, Romania’s under-21 side secured a 2-1 win against Hungary in
Budapest, in a game counting towards the Group A of the European Under-21 Championship.
On Wednesday Romania ended in a one-all draw their game against the strong side
of the Netherlands and will be up against Germany on March 30th. The
first two sides in the group will qualify for the final tournament due over May
31st and June 6th.

TENNIS Romanian tennis player Horia Tecau and Marcelo Arevalo of
Salvador have qualified for the round of 16 of the Miami Open ATP Masters 1000,
a competition with over three million dollars in prize money. The two secured a
6-4, 6-3 win against Henri Kontinen of Finland and Edouard Roger Vasselin of
France. This new pair will be up against top-seeded Juan Sebastian Cabal and
Robert Farah in the eighth finals.

(bill)