January 9, 2021 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 09.01.2021, 19:18

DECISION The government in Bucharest is expected to pass an emergency
ordinance to grant additional money to the medical personnel involved in the
anti-Covid National Vaccination Campaign. Under the draft, physicians are to
receive 20 Euros per hour and nurses 10, Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu said.
Family physicians are also going to get more money as they are considered an
essential pillar in the immunization campaign. Roughly 100 thousand people have
been immunized since the onset of the campaign; out of these only 314 reported
minor side effects. The latest report provided by the Strategic Communication
Group indicates 44 hundred new infections in the past 24 hours in Romania and
86 people died, bringing the death toll since the onset of the pandemic to
roughly 16,600. 11 hundred people are in intensive care. Nearly 670 thousand
people have been infected in Romania since the beginning of the pandemic and
90% of them have been cured. The number of the Romanian nationals infected
abroad is 7145, and the death toll stays at 132.

HANDBALL Romania’s vice-champions in
women’s handball, CSM Bucharest lost to Hungarian side Ferencvaros Budapest 31-27
their first match counting towards the Champions League Group A. The first game
went to the Romanians 25-19. CSM ranks second in the group with 11 points
whereas Ferencvaros comes fourth with 8. On Sunday in the Champions League’s
Group B, Romanian champions, SCM Ramnicu Valcea are taking on another Hungarian
side, Gyor, in a home match. Another Romanian side Minaur Baia Mare on Saturday
clinched a 33-29 win against the Norwegians from Storhamar Handball Elite. Dunarea
Braila also from Romania will be up against French side Fleury Loiret on
Sunday.

LIST Bucharest has
updated its list of high risk countries for Covid infection whose citizens must
comply with the latest quarantine measures. The new provisions are in force
starting January 9th. The list comprises 40 countries, including Britain,
Spain, Italy, Germany, France and the neighboring Republic of Moldova, whose
citizens must be quarantined for two weeks after their arrival. Those who stay
in Romania less than three days and can produce a negative test do not have to go
into isolation. Those who want to stay more can take a test in their 8th day
and can get out of quarantine in the 10th day of their stay. According to the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Romania, all the people coming to Germany from
the risk areas must produce a negative RT-PCR test for the SARS-CoV-2 virus or
take such a test in Germany, shortly after their arrival.

REPATRIATION The Romanian sailor kidnapped from the Agisilaos ship off the
shores of Togo has been released and is to be repatriated in the following
days, the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest announced on Saturday. According to the
same sources, in order to settle the incident, the Crisis Management Cell set
up on this occasion, has taken a lot of action working jointly with the company
which hired the Romanian and other international partners. On November 30th
2020, sources with the Foreign Ministry in Bucharest announced that Minister
Aurescu had summoned an inter-institutional crisis management cell to address
the incident in Togo involving the Agisilaos, where several sailors, including
a Romanian citizen, had been kidnapped.

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