July 22, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 22.07.2021, 19:56

Covid-19RO. 78 new cases of Covid-19 were reported in Romania in 24 hours,
out of some 24,000 tests performed, authorities informed on Thursday. 4 related
deaths were also reported. The number of cases started to rise since July 12th,
with half of the cases reported mainly in Bucharest, Cluj, Iasi, Ilfov and
Constanta. According to data made public on the European Covid-19 Forecast Hub,
by the end of July Romania is expected to report up to 200 new cases per day.
Experts say that immunization is the solution to put an end to this health
crisis. Also on Thursday, authorities announced that some 16,000 people had
received the jab in 24 hours. So far, more than 4.7 million Romanians have been
fully vaccinated.

Pandemic. China has turned down
the proposal of the World Health Organization (WHO) that the expert team that
investigates the origin of Covid-19 should return to the place where the virus
first emerged for the second phase of the investigation. China’s National Health
Commission answered that the proposal, which would also mean looking into the
hypothesis that the virus escaped from a Chinese laboratory, disregards common
sense and defies science. The WHO has recently warned that the number of coronavirus
infections worldwide may reach 200 million in the next three weeks if the
growing trend maintains. Last week, the number of infections went up by 12%
globally, which is almost half a million more cases a day, while the number of
related-casualties remained stable. In Europe, the figure went up by 21%.
According to the WHO, this is due to more contagious variants of the virus,
such as Delta. Across the world, almost 193 million people have been infected
with the novel coronavirus, of whom over 175 millions have recovered and
4.1 millions died.

Survey.. Only one in three Romanians who consider themselves victims of
an abuse by state institutions has filed complains or petitions to defend their
rights, according to the findings of a survey dubbed Be Informed, Not Abused!
conducted between April and July 2021 by the Foundation for the Defense of
Citizens Against State’s Abuses (FACIAS). 72% of the respondents say they have
been victims of abuse by an institution of the Romanian state at least once. Of
them, 32% filed a complaint, 12% made a verbal complaint, 11% opened a court
case while 25% did not take any action. Only 9% of the respondents say they
have never been the victims of such abuse.

Organized crime. Prosecutors with the
Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) and
policemen have conducted 17 searches in Bucharest and five counties to
dismantle a group involved in embezzlement, fraud and money laundering. Some
380 people have been brought in for hearing. The suspects had bank accounts
opened in Romania, Slovakia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, the UK,
Germany and other countries. During the search, 100 thousand euros have been
confiscated, as well as 250 mobile phones, bank documents issued by other EU
countries and the Russian Federation, laptops and bank cards.

Award. The President of
Romania, Klaus Iohannis, awarded Father
Daniel, Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church, the National Order ‘Star of
Romania’ on the occasion of his 70th birthday. This is a sign of high
appreciation for the exceptional contribution to guiding the pastoral,
missionary, cultural, social and philanthropic activity of the Romanian
Orthodox Church, in the country and in the diaspora, aimed to increase the
common good by cultivating interfaith and interreligious dialogue. You are
the first Patriarch elected since our country’s accession to the European
Union. During this entire period, you have ensured that the Romanian Orthodox
Church has had its positive and well-defined place in the course and fulfillment
of the European destiny of the Romanian people, the head of state said at the ceremony. We
believe that the freedom we have in terms of expressing our faith is also one
for cooperation, for co-responsibility, for harmony and peace between all the
citizens of Romania and all Romanians, wherever they may be, Patriarch Daniel
said in turn.

Football .Romania’s Under-23 national football team defeated Honduras 1-0 on Thursday in its debut match in Group B of the Tokyo Olympic tournament. In the same group, New Zealand beat South Korea, also 1-0. Next, Romania will be up against South Korea on July 25 and the New Zealand on July 28. The Romanian footballers qualified for the Olympics after reaching the semi-finals of the Under-21 European Championship in 2019 held in Italy and San Marino. The last time Romania participated in the Olympic football tournament was back in 1964, when it came in 5th, also in Tokyo. Romania has sent a 101-strong delegation to this edition of the Olympic Games, to compete in 17 sports disciplines. (MI)