March 14, 2020 UPDATE
The latest domestic and international news
Newsroom, 14.03.2020, 19:00
COVID-19 ROMANIA In Romania, the number of people confirmed as being infected with the new coronavirus has exceeded 100, which means that the country enters stage three, which requires special measures. The measures include the use of infectious diseases hospitals exclusively for those infected with the new coronavirus. Also, these patients now benefit from 10% of the capacity of intensive care facilities in emergency units. Based on information provided by the Italian authorities, the Romanian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Saturday the death of an infected Romanian in Italy, the country most seriously affected by COVID-19. The woman had underlying conditions. In Romania, some 2,300 people are in quarantine and more than 14,000 are self-isolated at home. Eight Romanian citizens have been brought from Italy on board a plane of the Romanian Air Forces and placed under quarantine in Bucharest. According to the foreign ministry, the situation of the Romanian citizens in Italy remains a priority for the Romanian diplomatic mission and consular offices in Italy. Also, the ministry announced that several European countries took exceptional measures to curb the spread. They include, among other things, reintroducing border checks, suspending traffic across their territories or making it conditional on certain criteria, and even closing some border crossing points. According to the Romanian Foreign Ministry, a transit corridor was created to facilitate the circulation of the carriers blocked on various routes and borders. Also on Saturday, Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis promulgated the law on giving parents free days when schools are closed. So, one of the parents can stay at home if the child is aged up to 12, or to 18 if the child is disabled.
COVID-19 PANDEMIC The number of people who got infected with the new coronavirus at global level exceeded 146 thousand on Saturday. More than 5,500 have died and some 71,000 are now cured. Europe has never been in such a dramatic situation since the end of WWII, said the European Parliament President David Sassoli after the announcement made by the European Commission about measures to combat COVID-19. The main challenge is to save human lives, Sassoli said. Another important objective is to protect jobs, businesses and the economy, and for that austerity must be eliminated. The EU countries will have to spend as much as needed in order to support employees, free-lancers, businesses and banks. Besides the commitment of the member states, at least 37 billion Euros are ready and available in the EU budget, the EU official stressed. On Friday, the WHO declared that Europe was the new epicenter of the COVID 19 pandemic and announced that the 5 thousand fatality threshold had been exceeded. Spain declared state of emergency for two weeks. On Saturday, China announced 11 cases of contamination, but for the first time since the start of the pandemic, most of them were people coming from abroad. While in China the number of infections and deaths are approaching zero, in the US and Europe they are on the rise. Italy remains the most affected country in the world after China and also the European country most severely hit by the pandemic. On Friday, the US president Donald Trump declared a national emergency. The measure will allow the federal government to use a 50 billion dollar emergency fund for measures against COVID 19. As of Friday, nobody who’s travelled to the Schengen area in the past 14 days is allowed to enter the US. A growing number of countries are suspending their international flights.
ROMANIAN GOVERNMENT On Saturday, Ludovic Orban’s Liberal Government was endorsed by the Romanian Parliament and then sworn in. President Klaus Iohannis stated that the vote held in Parliament was a message of unity, showing that the political forces understood the need for joint action. The president also stated the Government’s priority would be to continue the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and gave assurances that all efforts would be made to properly manage the crisis. He also said that it’s important for all measures to be taken in due time, and for that he decided to decree a state of emergency in Romania as of Monday. This will allow the allocation of important resources to manage the crisis and also faster procurement procedures. The head of state called on all Romanians to observe the authorities’ guidance and stressed the importance of hygiene and avoiding social contact as much as possible. He also urged Romanians to look for reliable sources of information, provided by authorities.
