July 10, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 10.07.2021, 19:15

Pandemic Romania. 36 new Covid cases from some 24,000 tests were reported
in Romania on Saturday, as well as 19 deaths, with only one being recorded in
the last 24 hours. 54 Covid patients are still in intensive care. The Romanian
government extended the state of alert nationwide for a further 30 days from 12th
July. The coordinator of the mass vaccination campaign, dr. Valeriu Gheorghiţă warned that Romania may
see an increase in the number of new Covid cases driven by the spread of the Delta
variant. According to official data, over 25,000 Covid jabs were administered
in Romania in the last 24 hours. Since the start of the vaccine roll-out in
late December, more than 4.8 million people have received the Covid vaccine in
Romania, with at least 4.6 million being fully vaccinated.

Government. As interim finance minister, prime minister Florin Cîţu has requested
the state of the budget execution and staff expenditure from every ministry and
public institution in Romania and to be briefed on the situation of investment
projects in the last five months. He said on Saturday he will keep the interim
job for 45 days and that certain projects must be stepped up, adding that like
the outgoing finance minister Alexandru Nazare, all ministers are constantly evaluated.
The prime minister took over as interim finance minister this week after sacking
Nazare, saying the latter did not fulfil his objectives.

Travel. More than 150,000 people crossed the
Romanian border in the last 24 hours, according to the border police. 78,000
entered the country and 75,600 exited it. The border police are working at
maximum capacity and are advising those travelling by road to use all border
crossing points open for international travel to avoid overcrowding.

Rep. Moldova. Early parliamentary elections are
taking place on Sunday in the Republic of Moldova, an ex-Soviet state with a
majority Romanian-speaking population. 12 of the 150 voting stations abroad are
in Romania. The country’s pro-western president Maia Sandu dissolved Parliament
in late April and called early elections. One of the main themes of the
election campaign was whether Moldova should look more to the West or the East,
geopolitically speaking.

Football. Italy and England are playing the
European Football Championship final hosted by London’s Wembley stadium on
Sunday. In the semis, England defeated Denmark 2-1 in extra-time, while Italy
defeated Spain 4-2 on penalties. Bucharest hosted four Euro 2020 matches, three
in the group stage and one in the round of last 16. The president of the
European Commission Ursula von der Leyen hopes Italy
beats England in the final, her spokesperson said. EU officials usually
avoid taking positions, but the UK’s exit from the Union made von der Leyen’s
allegiance to founding EU member Italy inevitable, Reuters notes. (CM)