March 24, 2020
A roundup of domestic and international news
Newsroom, 24.03.2020, 14:33
MEASURES Romanias president Klaus Iohannis has announced generalized quarantine in Romania. As of Wednesday, leaving home will be allowed only to go to work or to shop for food. Moreover, the authorities have decided to use the Army in addition to the public order forces. Also, Klaus Iohannis has said that electronic surveillance will be used for people in isolation. A new restriction targets people over the age of 65, who will practically have to stay at home all the time, the head of state has announced. All these restrictions will be processed today by means of a military decree and will come into force on Wednesday. The president announced the new measures after a meeting with PM Ludovic Orban, Interior Minister Marcel Vela and Health Minister Victor Costache. We recall that the first measures had been taken already for the night time. Also, as of today all public and private hospitals in the country have suspended, for 14 days, all interventions that are not emergencies and can be rescheduled. Also, all the patients hospitalized for diseases or interventions that do not require immediate hospital care will be discharged.
COVID-19 ROMANIA Another person has died in Romania of Covid-19, raising the death toll to eight. Its a 70 year-old man with underlying conditions, diabetes and obesity. According to the Strategic Communication Group, 762 infections have been confirmed in Romania so far. 79 people have been cured and discharged. Eight Romanians have died of Covid-19 abroad, seven in Italy and one in France.
TESTS The Romanian PM Ludovic Orban and the other members of the Cabinet have received the results of their Covid-19 tests and they are all negative. Therefore, the PM has suspended the isolation and will resume his activity, just like the other members of the Government who had placed themselves in isolation as a precautionary measure.
PANDEMIC The Covid-19 pandemic is spreading faster and some 300 thousand infections have been reported worldwide, in almost all countries, the Director of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has stated. The first 100 thousand cases were reported in 67 days, another 100 in the next 11 days and it took only four days for the latest 100,000. Some 17 thousand people have been killed by the new coronavirus. The WHO Director has stated that the number of infections among doctors and medical staff is alarming. Radio Romania correspondents abroad have reported that the situation remains dramatic everywhere. In Italy, the most affected in Europe, a slight drop has been registered in terms of new cases and deaths. A health emergency has been declared in France for two months, as of today. Also, because of the crisis, the Spanish authorities have had to use an ice skating rink to keep the dead. In the US, president Donald Trump has stated that he is convinced the US will recover within three or four months.
SOCIAL MEDIA The EU has imposed limitations with regard to the resolution of videos and photos on the main social media platforms, as millions of Europeans are now staying at home and use such media excessively. Representatives of AMCOM, the authority responsible for communication regulations, say that the traffic will keep increasing in the coming period by up to 50%, and phone and internet operators are preparing for this.
TUBERCULOSIS According to data published by Eurostat, some 3,770 people died in 2016 in the EU of tuberculosis. 982 deaths, which is a quarter of the total number, were reported in Romania alone. With 60 deaths per one million inhabitants, Lithuania has the highest rate in the EU, followed by Romania with 50 and Latvia with 39. At the opposite pole, the lowest number of cases was registered in the Netherlands and Sweden, followed by Luxembourg, Belgium, Cyprus, Germany and Slovenia. March 24th is the official World Tuberculosis Day. The date marks the day in 1882 when Dr Robert Koch announced that he had discovered the bacterium that causes TB, which opened the way towards diagnosing and curing this disease.
SPORTS The Japanese PM Shinzo Abe and the President of the International Olympic Committee Thomas Bach are to discuss today the possibility of postponing the Olympic Games due this summer in Tokyo. On Monday, Abe admitted for the first time that a decision to postpone the games could become inevitable, if the pandemic made it impossible to ensure full safety. Last week, UEFA decided to postpone the 2020 European Championship by one year, also because of the Covid-19 pandemic. (M.Ignatescu)
