May 18, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 18.05.2021, 20:00

COVID-19 IN ROMANIA – Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday
highlighted the need to accelerate the vaccination campaign, warning that
fading signs of the pandemic might induce a false sense of security in people
who haven’t got immunized. The president said a large number of the population
still needs to get vaccinated. The President had a work meeting with Prime
Minister Florin Cîţu and government members regarding the anti-COVID-19
vaccination campaign. According to the president, the success of the
vaccination will impact the full reopening of all social and economic sectors
in post-pandemic Romania. According to the Facebook page of the vaccination
campaign, over 4 million people got vaccinated at national level since the
start of the vaccination campaign, and 6.9 million doses of vaccine have been
administered so far. According to the authorities, Romania ranks 7th
at European level in terms of the percentage of fully-vaccinated population and
21st at world level. Tens of thousands of people have been immunized
in recent days in drive-through centers (by car) and through vaccination
marathons across the country. The capital’s Emergency Situations Committee
decided on Monday that preschoolers and pupils will be able to return to class
physically, starting Wednesday, with the observance and application of all
protection rules. On the other hand, the Strategic Communication Group reported
on Tuesday 681 cases of infection with the new coronavirus out of almost 32
thousand tests performed nationwide. In the last 24 hours, 91 patients
diagnosed with COVID-19 died. There are now more than 4,600 patients in
hospitals, of whom 716 in intensive care. At this moment, at national level, an
incidence higher than 1 per one thousand inhabitants is registered only in Cluj
county – 1.18, and Alba county – 1.14.

VACCINATION CERTIFICATE – Romania is ready to introduce the green vaccination
certificate that will be used at European level, the spokesperson for the
Special Telecommunications Service, Cătălin Chirca told Radio Romania. STS is
already working on an IT system with two components: a portal wherefrom
citizens will download their green certificate for free and an application that
will allow the verification of issued certificates. Adina Vălean, the European
Commissioner for Transport, has explained that, currently, there are 18 member
countries that have scheduled tests of their solutions and the connection that
their databases will establish with the European information exchange platform.
Romania is scheduled for May 21 to take its interoperability test. The green
vaccination certificate, which will contain a QR code, will facilitate free
movement in the EU during the COVID-19 pandemic. It will certify that a person
has been vaccinated against coronavirus or, as the case may be, that he or she
has recently had a negative test result or that he or she has been infected
with the virus.

ECONOMY – In the first quarter of this year, Romanian economy
was the most dynamic in the European Union, with a growth of the Gross Domestic
Product of 2.8% compared to the last quarter of 2020, according to preliminary
data published on Tuesday by Eurostat. Next come Cyprus (2%), Hungary (1.9%)
and Lithuania (1.8%). Earlier, the National Institute of Statistics had too
announced this growth, above estimates, of the Romanian economy in the first
quarter of 2021. Prime Minister Florin Cîţu wrote on Facebook that it’s the
fastest economic recovery in history, in response to the biggest crisis in the
last hundred years. He also wrote that the Government is preparing new measures
to make Romania’s post-pandemic economy stronger and more competitive. For this
year, the authorities estimate an economic growth of about 4.3%, after a
decline of 3.9% in 2020.

CONFLICT – France has called on Israel to grant swift and
unrestrained access to humanitarian aid to Gaza after a crucial crossing point
was closed down, French Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on Tuesday in the
National Assembly. The international community is making efforts to put an end
to the bloody Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Gaza. On Tuesday, following
Israel’s latest air strikes and missiles launched by Hamas, the situation escalated
at the Kerem Shalom border crossing point, which Israel closed down a few hours
later after a new missile barrage from the Palestinian side. Also on Tuesday,
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken gave assurances that the United States
will not stand in the way of UN diplomacy in the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue,
without promising, however, they would support a UN Security Council resolution
calling for a ceasefire. According to France Press news agency, the US official
recalled that President Joe Biden on Monday voiced support for a ceasefire agreement.
Israel and Hamas militants continue to bomb each other’s positions after a week
of intense fighting. (MI & VP)