January 31, 2022

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 31.01.2022, 13:49

Covid-19 update. In Romania, children are driving the
transmission of the novel coronavirus, with new cases rising exponentially from
one day to the next. In the last seven days, infections among children rose by
almost a half compared with the previous week. This situation is also reflected
in the number of new hospital admissions, with almost 800 minors now in
hospital. A total of over 20,000 new cases and 41 deaths were reported on
Monday. Health minister Alexandru Rafila warns
of a further rise in cases, with daily infections to pass 40,000. He expects
the already dominant Omicron variant to fully replace Delta in Romania in about
two weeks, with a drop in hospital admissions being expected as a result.

Parliament. Romania’s two-chamber Parliament this week begins a new
session with an emergency discussion of the reduction in energy bills. Senators
and deputies are expected to pass an emergency order issued recently by the
government on a new compensation and capping scheme. Another priority for
Parliament is the dismantling of the special department to investigate
magistrates. Another bill, which was already rejected by the Senate but is still
under debate in the Chamber of Deputies, is about making the use of the Covid green
certificate mandatory in the workplace.

Protest. Police
and prisons trade unions are planning a large-scale protest on Wednesday, with
5,000 participants, outside the government and Parliament headquarters. They
are demanding a rise in pay. The media say the situation may become tense,
after trade union leaders said the Senate speaker and the Liberal leader Florin Cîţu promised them that government will discuss their
demands in its regular Tuesday meeting and adopt a decision in that respect.

Census. The government is meeting today to establish the conditions for
a new population and housing census postponed last year because of the
pandemic. The government is expected to approve three bills regulating the
organisation of the census, including from a financial point of view. The new
census is to take place in February and March. As a first, citizens will be
able to take part directly in the process by mid-May, through self-census.
Employees using this procedure will be granted one day of paid leave.

Tennis. Romanian
no. one Simona Halep drops to no. 23 in the tennis world ranking. Sorana Cîrstea,
who had a great run at the Australian Open, went up to no. 32, Irina Begu
climbs 8 places to no. 56, while Jaqueline Cristian and Gabriela Ruse climb 11
places to 58 and 61, respectively. Ana Bogdan, who won an ITF title in France
on Sunday, is close to returning to top 100, currently being at 101. In the
doubles ranking, Raluca Olaru went up to no. 30, the highest position in her
career. Monica Niculescu climbs to 31, with four other Romanian players in the doubles
top 100: Irina Begu (55), Irina Bara (81), Gabriela Ruse (98) and Andreea Mitu
(99). (CM)