August 22, 2022 UPDATE
A news update
România Internațional, 22.08.2022, 19:21
Measures – The Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă, the Energy Minister, Virgil Popescu, and the representatives of the Romanian Energy Regulatory Authority will once again analyze the support measures for the population, in the context of the skyrocketing prices for electricity. The measures will apply next year, after March 31, the date until which household and non-household consumers benefit from electricity and gas price compensation, depending on consumption. The government wants to invest in new infrastructure projects in the field, which should exploit local natural resources. On the other hand, the Romanian government could adopt, in this weeks meeting, the emergency ordinance that provides for the increase in the salaries of public sector employees by a quarter of the amount they were supposed to receive this year. The Finance Minister, Adrian Câciu, explained that the increase has already been applied in the education and health domains, and next the other state employees are going to benefit from this increase.
Weather – In the next 24 hours, the weather in Romania will be generally unstable. The National Meteorological Administration has issued Code Yellow and Code Orange alerts for weather instability and heavy rain falls, valid until Tuesday evening in almost all regions of Romania. For short periods of time, and especially through accumulation, the water amounts recorded will be of 25…35 l/sq.m., and of than more than 60…70 l/sq.m on small areas. Hail storms are expected in isolated areas. From a thermal point of view, the weather will be relatively cool in the southwest, and in the east and southeast warm with high discomfort conditions (the humidity temperature index reaching and slightly exceeding the critical threshold of 80 units). Highs across Romania will range between 24 and 34 degrees Celsius.
Tennis — The Romanian tennis player Irina Begu on Sunday qualified for the round of 16 of the WTA 250 tournament in Cleveland USA, which has total prizes up for grabs worth over 250 thousand dollars. The Romanian player secured a two-set win against the American Peyton Sterns and next she will be up against the winner of the game pitting Sofia Kenin of the USA against other qualified player. Another Romanian in the competition, Sorana Cîrstea will play against fourth-seeded Elise Mertens of Belgium in the first round.
Covid – About 2,600 new cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been registered in the last 24 hours in Romania, after more than 11,800 tests were carried out, the Health Ministry announced on Monday. 10 deaths were also reported. In specialized health units, the number of COVID-19 patients is 3,580. 253 people are in ICUs. On the other hand, the protective mask will not be mandatory in schools and no special sanitary measures will be taken, said the prefect of Bucharest, Toni Greblă. Upon checking the stage of preparations for the beginning of the school year, the prefect explained that there were no discussions about additional measures to be imposed in educational units, in the context of the increase in the number of COVID cases. Recently, the Health Minister, Alexandru Rafila, said that he recommended the use of protective masks in schools, but the only additional protective measure would be the ventilation of the classrooms.
Drought — In Romania, the crops area affected by the drought, at national level has so far exceeded 400,000 hectares located in 34 counties, according to the data provided by the Agriculture Ministry. Out of the total cultivated area, more than half of the plots cultivated with wheat and triticale, a hybrid of wheat and rye, have been affected, followed by corn crops, covering over 75,000 hectares. 2020 was considered by meteorologists the driest year in Romanias history for important areas in the country, such as Dobrogea (south-east). The drought reported two years ago was reflected in the crops registred by Romania, which were much smaller in compariosn with the previous years. 9LS)
