April 25, 2020
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 25.04.2020, 14:04
Covid-19 Romania — More people infected with the new coronavirus have died in Romania, taking the death toll to 575 — the Strategic Communication Group informed on Saturday. Official statistical data shows that the number of deaths accounts for 6% of the total number of people confirmed with Covid-19 infection. 2,890 patients have recovered from the infection, which represents more than 27% of the total number of infected people (more than 10,600). Abroad, as many as 1,500 Romanian citizens have been confirmed with Covid-19 infection, and 70 have died.
UN — The UN and the WHO have called for the support of the world leaders, international organizations and the private sector to get involved in a historic initiative aimed at developing, producing and equitably distributing a vaccine against the new coronavirus. ‘None of us is safe until all of us are safe’ said the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. All over the world, more than 2.7 million people have been infected with Covid-19 and the number of deaths is nearing 200 thousand. Europe reports most of the deaths, with Italy, Spain and France remaining the most affected countries. Italy reports more than 25,000 deaths, Spain (over 22,000), France (around 22,000) and Great Britain (almost 19,000). As many as 59,000 people have died in the US due to COVID-19 infection. However, the situation is beginning to stabilize in many parts of Europe and more and more governments are talking about gradual relaxation of restrictions. Some of the countries have even announced measures in this regard.
Elections – Local elections might take place at the end of September or in October, said the Romanian PM Ludovic Orban. The PM said that everything depends on the evolution of the pandemic in Romania. Ludovic Orban reiterated that health experts presented forecasts according to which the election campaign could be safely organized in autumn. Initially, the local elections had to be initially held at the end of June, with parliamentary elections being scheduled for November.
Loans – As many as 260 thousand individuals and about 10 thousand companies from Romania that are bank customers have so far applied for the suspension of loan payments. This means 17% of the loans granted to individuals and less than 10% of the total loans granted to legal entities, shows data centralized by the Romanian Banks Association. So far 175 thousand applications have been solved, with the rest being currently processed. Applications may be submitted by customers whose incomes have been affected directly or indirectly by the general situation created by the coronavirus pandemic.
Moody’s — Moody’s rating agency reconfirmed the rating of Romania’s government debt at Baa3/A-3 for the long and short term debt in hard and local currency and changed the country’s outlook from stable to negative, the Romanian Finance Ministry informed on Saturday. According to the quoted source, Moody’s decision to reconfirm the country’s rating is based on Romania’s potential for solid economic growth, even in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and of the Romanian state’s moderate institutional capacity. (tr. L. Simion)
