December 25, 2020 UPDATE

Christmas is celebrated around the world amid pandemic./ First batch of Covid vaccine arrives in Romania.

Newsroom, 25.12.2020, 18:00

Christmas. Christmas is celebrated in the
Christian world, including majority-Orthodox Romania. In these times of
pandemic, we must show solidarity and support those in need, urged the head of
the Romanian Orthodox Church, Patriarch Daniel in his Christmas message. At the Vatican, the Christmas
mass was held amid restrictions, as Italy imposed four-day red zone measures
around the country. For the first time, the Christmas message and the Urbi et
Orbi blessing was delivered by the pope from the Hall of
Blessings in the Apostolic Palace
instead of from the balcony of St Peter’s Basilica. The Vatican is trying to shield 84-year-old
Pope Francis as two cardinals in his entourage tested positive for coronavirus in recent days.

Vaccine. Romania
saw more than 3,800 new coronavirus cases and 111 new related deaths on Friday.
The total number of infections now passes 612,000 and the death toll is in
excess of 15,000. 1,233 Covid patients are in intensive care. Nearly 85% of the
people infected since the start of the outbreak have recovered. The first batch
of 10,000 doses of anti-Covid vaccine arrived in Romania on Friday and the
immunisation of the staff working in its ten Covid care hospitals will begin on
Sunday. The head of the committee in charge of mass vaccination Valeriu
Gheorghiţă said Romania was part of a contract signed by the European
Commission with six manufacturing companies to secure increased chances to a
vaccine or more in the end. He said a second batch of vaccine is expected to reach
Romania on 28th December, and that between 140,000 and 150,000 doses
are scheduled to arrive every week.

Coronavirus world. Globally, there are over 79.8
million confirmed coronavirus cases and some 1.7 million related fatalities. Over 25 million cases were confirmed in Europe, where a new strain of
the virus discovered in the UK is causing increasing concern. Europe is in fact
the worst-hit region in the world in terms of the number of cases. In many
European countries, restrictions are in place over the winter holidays. Germany has limited private gatherings to family members
until Saturday, and The Netherlands is in lockdown until mid January. Italy has
extended harsher red-zone measures to the entire country. Tens of countries have
closed borders to arrivals from the UK, following the discovery of the mutated
variant of the virus.

Brexit. The 27 EU member states will
be making a decision on the provisional application of the new post-Brexit
trade deal in the coming days, said the spokesperson of the EU Council
Presidency held by Germany.
Germany’s EU ambassador Michael Clauss signed a letter to that effect addressed
to the European Parliament. The letter was unanimously endorsed by EU ambassadors.
After the last-minute deal agreed on Thursday, the ambassadors will now have to
look through thousands of pages of the agreement to establish whether their countries
can accept its terms and conditions. The deal is yet to be ratified by the EU
and the UK. The European Commission president
Ursula von der Leyen said this is a fair and balanced deal, while British
prime minister Boris Johnson described it as a good deal for the whole of
Europe.