June 29, 2020 UPDATE
A news update
Newsroom, 29.06.2020, 19:59
Pandemic — The Romanian health minister Nelu Tataru said that in the context of the rise in the new COVID-19 cases, the Group of technical and scientific support decided to postpone the relaxation measures scheduled for July 1. Doctor Tataru has explained that in the past 2 weeks the number of new coronavirus cases has risen just as the number of patients in intensive care and the number of deaths. He has called on the citizens to be cautious, and to observe hygiene and social distancing. Previously he had announced that the authorities were considering restricting traffic in certain localities if new coronavirus hotbeds emerged.
Covid-19 RO – In Romania, latest data published by the Strategic Communication Group show more than 26,500 cases of Covid-19. Most infections have been reported so far in the county of Suceava, in the north-east, and in the capital Bucharest. Of the people confirmed positive, more than 18,900 have recovered and have been discharged from hospital. So far, 1,634 people have died of Covid-19 in Romania. The Liberal Prime Minister Ludovic Orban said Monday that the evolution of the pandemic in the past few days requires much caution in relation to subsequent relaxation measures and announced that Wednesday he would ask a meeting with the ministers and leaders of the institutions with control prerogatives to analyze together a plan of measures aimed at ensuring the observance of rules. In another development, Romanian researchers say that people who have been contaminated and recovered from COVID-19 infection are quite unlikely to get infected again. They have reached this conclusion after having analyzed the SARS-CoV-2 virus identified in Romania and which was proved to originate in Wuhan, China. Most probably the spread of the virus in Romania occurred at community level, across the country’s regions.
Parliament — Romania’s two-chamber Parliament ends its ordinary session this week, but the Chamber of Deputies announced they would work in an extraordinary session until July 15. High on the agenda are several draft laws among which that on the organization of local elections as well as on the appointment of members to important public institutions. The Chamber of Deputies will have to give a final vote also on a bill regarding the empowerment of the government to issue decrees during the Parliament’s summer break. The document was rejected by the Senate, the majority Social Democratic Party explaining that the executive cannot be allowed to issue decrees since it took no measures following the sanctioning of certain ministers through simple motions of no confidence. In another development, the opposition Social Democrats are expecting the government to pass a bill regulating the conditions of quarantine, isolation and hospitalization. Other draft laws are related to the childcare leave and allowance and to the modification of the electric energy and natural gas law. (update by L. Simion)
