January 31, 2022 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

România Internațional, 31.01.2022, 19:50

Covid-19 update. In Romania,
children are driving the transmission of the novel coronavirus, with new cases
rising exponentially from one day to the next. In the last seven days,
infections among children rose by almost a half compared with the previous
week. This situation is also reflected in the number of new hospital
admissions, with almost 800 minors now in hospital. A total of over 20,000 new
cases and 41 deaths were reported on Monday. Health minister Alexandru Rafila
warns of a further rise in cases, with daily infections to pass 40,000. He
expects the already dominant Omicron variant to fully replace Delta in Romania
in about two weeks, with a drop in hospital admissions being expected as a
result.

Quarantine. People coming
from abroad to Romania will be subject to the same quarantine rules, no matter the
country they come from. The National Committee for Emergency Situations has
established a 5-day quarantine for people arriving in Romania who do
not present the COVID-19 certificate attesting to vaccination, proof of having had
the disease in the last 180 days or a negative RT-PCR test performed within 72
hours prior to entering the country. At the same time, color terminology on the
differentiation of states according to epidemiological risk in the context of
the COVID-19 pandemic has been eliminated. On the other hand, the head of the
Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, stated on Monday that Romania
must adapt to the rules of the European Union regarding the COVID-19 digital
certificate. According to him, people who got the second dose of the vaccine
more than 9 months ago should also get the booster. Raed Arafat added that, for
the time being, until a new legislative regulation comes into force, the
digital certificate remains valid in Romania also for those who have exceeded
this period.

Covid-19 Moldova. The number of
cases of COVID-19 infection in the Republic of Moldova (ex-Soviet, predominantly
Romanian-speaking) increased exponentially last week – according to data
published by the Ministry of Health and quoted on Monday by Radio Chisinau.
Thus, between January 24-30, 31,301 new cases of Covid-19 were registered, with
more than 10 thousand more than in the previous week. Last week, a daily
average of 4,700 cases was recorded, an absolute record since the beginning of
the pandemic in the Republic of Moldova. Also, in the last seven days, there
have been 120 deaths caused by the Sars-Cov-2 virus, 42 more than in the
previous week. The number of doctors who contracted the virus has also
increased. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 440,698 cases of infection and
10,642 deaths caused by the new coronavirus have been registered on the
territory of the Republic of Moldova. About one million people in the Republic
of Moldova have been fully vaccinated.

Parliament. Romania’s
two-chamber Parliament has started the current session with an emergency
discussion of the reduction in energy bills. Senators and deputies are expected
to pass an emergency order issued recently by the government on a new
compensation and capping scheme. Another priority for Parliament is the
dismantling of the special department to investigate magistrates. Another bill,
which was already rejected by the Senate but is still under debate in the
Chamber of Deputies, is about making the use of the Covid green certificate
mandatory in the workplace.

Census. The government on
Monday established the conditions for a new population and housing census
postponed last year because of the pandemic. The government has passed three
bills regulating the organisation of the census, including from a financial
point of view. The new census is to take place in February and March. As a
first, citizens will be able to take part directly in the process by mid-May,
through self-census. Employees using this procedure will be granted one day of
paid leave.

Protest. Police and prisons
trade unions are planning a large-scale protest on Wednesday, with 5,000
participants, outside the government and Parliament headquarters. They are
demanding a rise in pay. The media say the situation may become tense, after
trade union leaders said the Senate speaker and the Liberal leader Florin Cîţu
promised them that government will discuss their demands in its regular Tuesday
meeting and adopt a decision in that respect.

Ukraine. If Russia
renounces diplomacy and attacks Ukraine, it will bear all responsibility and
suffer rapid and severe consequences, US President Joe Biden said in a
statement to the UN Security Council on Monday , convened at the request of the
United States t discuss the Ukrainian crisis. The US ambassador to the UN said that Russia’s
actions threaten international security and the United Nations Charter through
the armed forces deployed on the border with Ukraine and other destabilizing
acts targeting Kiev. Ukraine has called on Russia to withdraw its troops amassed
along the common border and to continue dialogue with the West if it really
wants to ease the tension. In turn, the head of diplomacy in Moscow, Sergei
Lavrov, said that Russia wants good and mutually respectful relations with the
United States and any other country, but that it does not want to remain in a
situation where its security is threatened on a regular basis.

Tennis. Romanian no. one Simona
Halep drops to no. 23 in the tennis world ranking. Sorana Cîrstea, who had a
great run at the Australian Open, went up to no. 32, Irina Begu climbs 8 places
to no. 56, while Jaqueline Cristian and Gabriela Ruse climb 11 places to 58 and
61, respectively. Ana Bogdan, who won an ITF title in France on Sunday, is
close to returning to top 100, currently being at 101. In the doubles ranking,
Raluca Olaru went up to no. 30, the highest position in her career. Monica
Niculescu climbs to 31, with four other Romanian players in the doubles top
100: Irina Begu (55), Irina Bara (81), Gabriela Ruse (98) and Andreea Mitu
(99).