January 17, 2022 UPDATE
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Newsroom, 17.01.2022, 20:05
ENERGY Four employers’ associations and five major trade
unions in Romania on Monday called on the country’s Prime Minister to cap
electricity and gas prices to their value in December 2020 for a period of at
least one year. The signatories of an open letter have underlined the fact that
price hikes in Romania are exceeding the international ones by far, putting the
citizens and the country’s entire economic system in extreme situations, as it
can no longer cope with fair competitiveness. In another development, Energy
Minister Virgil Popescu on Monday announced the Government would amend the
law on capping and subsidizing energy bills, adding that the subsidy for
natural gas bills might be increased from 33 to 50%. Measures to extend the
current government assistance scheme for both household users and SMEs will be
included in the new draft emergency decree, which is expected to be passed this
week, Minister Popescu went on to say.
TENNIS Romanian tennis player Gabriela
Ruse on Monday secured a two-set win against Jasmine Paolini of Italy in the
opening round of Australian Open, the year’s first Grand Slam tournament. This
is Ruse’s first participation in the prestigious tournament. Also on Monday,
Jaqueline Cristian of Romania clinched a two-set win against Greet Minnen of
Belgium while Irina Bara, another Romanian player at her first participation in
the tournament, lost to Nurria Parrizas Diaz of Spain. Bara came from the
position of ‘lucky loser’ after Ons Jabeur of Tunisia, the world’s number ten,
had to withdraw due to medical issues.
SCHOOL The second semester of the
2021-2022 school year started on Monday in Romania with nursery school, school
and high-school students returning to full physical class attendance. The
provisions of the new joint decree of the Health and Education ministries took
effect as of Monday, impacting the functioning of schooling units. Under the
new decree, the incidence rate and the vaccination of teaching staff are no
longer to be considered as criteria for moving classes online. Authorities
decided that classes should move online only when 75% of beds for COVID
patients, including in ICUs, are taken.
COVID -19 Authorities in Bucharest on Monday announced
over 8 thousand new Covid-19 infections and 17 related fatalities in the past
24 hours. 16 counties and the capital city Bucharest are presently in the red
tier with more than three cases per thousand. 4 thousand people are being
treated in hospitals across Romania and 485 in ICUs.
(bill)
