July 26, 2021
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Newsroom, 26.07.2021, 13:55
PHARMA — The competition between pharmaceutical companies to develop an anti-Covid oral medicine intensifies. A Japanese company has already started clinical trials and enters the race alongside Pfizer or Merck Sharp & Dohme. The pill developed by the Japanese company should be taken once a day and should neutralize the virus within ten days from infection. American laboratories Pfizer and MSD are in a more advanced stage of this process. Pfizer announced that its oral medicine, to be administered twice a day, could reach the market this year. On the other hand, the Israeli Health Ministry announced a decrease in the effectiveness of the Pfizer –BioNTech vaccine in preventing symptomatic Covid infections, but said this vaccine is still highly effective in preventing severe forms of the disease. The Delta variant of Covid-19 has become dominant in Israel where a third dose of the vaccine is already being administered to people with low immunity, people who underwent organ transplant and to patients under chemotherapy. Across the world at least 194 million people have been infected with the novel coronavirus, and there are more that 4.1 million related casualties, according to worldmeters.info.
STRIKE — At least five hundred domestic and international flights have been cancelled in Italy today due to a strike of traffic controllers. All flights between Romania and Italy have been cancelled for ten hours. Flights are operated as usual only in the morning, between 7 and 10 am and in the evening, between 6 and 9 pm. Flights to and from Lampedusa, Pantelleria, Catania, Olbia and Trapani are also operated. Italy is home to the largest Romanian community abroad.
EDUCATION — Romanian Education Minister Sorin Cimpeanu said that physical presence in school is necessary for students to catch up with what they missed when classes were held mostly online, due to the pandemic. Cimpeanu has said in a news conference that he is confident a prospective fourth wave of the pandemic will not be as aggressive as to disrupt classes that start in autumn. According to the minister, around 60% of the teaching staff have been vaccinated and the figure is higher in the case of university professors
BUDGET — The Government in Bucharest is preparing an emergency order for the revision of the state budget, to be adopted in mid-August. A number of ministries, such as Transport and Agriculture, are asking for significantly higher amounts. According to deputy PM Dan Barna, most funds will go to investment, infrastructure, health and local development. He reminded that Florin Citu, who is also interim finance minister, has asked ministries to submit a report on the stage of budget expenditure and an estimation of the amounts needed in the future. In his turn, Development Minister Cseke Attila said his ministry’s budget execution is 68% and that he is going to ask for additional amounts to finance the projects under way. Education Minister, Sorin Cimpeanu, also asked for more funds to finance an additional 6,000 interns in medicine school.
OLYMPICS – The Romanian women’s basketball 3×3 team won their first victory at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, after defeating Mongolia today, 22-14, and have chances to qualify to the next stage. The Romanians have previously lost to China, Japan, Italy and the US. The next matches are against Russia and France. Also on Tokyo, Romanian swimmers David Popovici, aged 16 and Robert Glinta, European champion in the 100-m freestyle event, qualified to the finals of the 200-m freestyle and 100-m backstroke events, respectively. China, Japan and the US lead the medal tally at the current Olympics so far. Romania ranks 24th in the classification, with one silver medal won by Ana Maria Popescu in women’s individual epee event.
SUPPORT – Romania granted 300,000 euro to the Republic of Moldova for the consolidation of the civil society and the independence of the media. The announcement was made by the Romanian Foreign Ministry on Monday, which specified that the move comes after a decision in this respect had been taken last week by Foreign Minister Bogdan Aurescu during an official visit to Chisinau. A similar contribution, of 250 thousand euro, was made in November 2020. On this occasion, the Romanian Foreign Ministry reiterates the country’s strong commitment to supporting Moldova’s European path. (EE)
