June 8, 2020
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Newsroom, 08.06.2020, 13:55
PENTECOST Orthodox and Greek-Catholic believers from
all over the world, Romania included, are today celebrating the second day of
Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit descended upon the 12 apostles enabling them to
convey the Lord’s message in languages they had never spoken before. Upon
Apostle Peter’s speech, over 3000 people embraced Christianity making up the
nucleus of the first Christian Church in Jerusalem. Thousands of Romanians have
taken to resorts in the Prahova Valley, the Black Sea coast and the Danube
Delta to spend the mini-holidays occasioned by this event.
COVID-19 Over 20,600 Romanians have reportedly been
infected with the new coronavirus authorities in this country have announced.
More than 14,800 patients have been cured and left hospitals. 1,334 people have
died since the outbreak in Romania and 3,304 have been infected abroad. Most of
the cases have been reported in Italy, nearly 1900, but most of the fatalities
among the Romanian nationals have been registered in Britain, over 40. Britain
has also reported the lowest number of infections among the Romanian nationals,
below 100. The authorities in Bucharest have specified they get data from
Romania’s diplomatic missions in these countries from the local authorities and
even directly from the Romanian citizens abroad. In another development, Health
Minister Nelu Tataru has estimated that a possible second wave of the pandemic
will not have the same intensity as the first. The Romanian official expects
the situation to normalize by late July or early August, provided the
population complies with the prevention measures.
REQUEST Employer’s Associations in Romania’s
tourism sector have called on the government to lift all restrictions allowing
the functioning of the terraces and resuming partial activity inside
restaurants, starting June 15th. Representatives of these associations
have explained in an open letter that going beyond this date would be
tantamount to increasing the losses this economy sector has so far incurred,
which account for 30% of the turnover in the previous years. The signatories
have called among other things for a tax cancellation in the second half of the
year, the possibility of paying taxes and duties in installments, for
non-reimbursable European loans and the proper legislation to half local taxes
this year. The government is presently considering several alternatives for jump-starting
Romania’s tourist sector, relying on both local and EU funds, the country’s
Deputy Prime Minister Raluca Turcan has written on a social network.
TAROM As of Monday, Romania’s air carrier TAROM resumes its flights to
London. According to an announcement posted on the company’s Facebook page,
from Britain, TAROM planes will accept only the citizens who have applied for
repatriation and only British citizens will be allowed to board in Bucharest.
Ticket prices will start from 267 Euros. Also on Monday, Britain introduces a
mandatory quarantine for travelers arriving in the country.
TRAVEL According to a report published by Forbes magazine Romania ranks
57th among the safest countries to visit in this period. The ranking
has been made after analyzing data from 200 countries. The safest country to
visit is Switzerland and second comes Germany. At this moment, the most
dangerous places to visit are Sub-Saharan Africa, South America, some Middle
East and Asian countries.
(translated by bill)
