May 4, 2020
A roundup of domestic and international news.
Newsroom, 04.05.2020, 13:55
MEASLES — As many as 119 new cases of measles were confirmed last week in seven Romanian counties. Since the beginning of the measles epidemic, in 2016, the total number of infections has reached 20,000 and the number of deaths 64. UNICEF warned on Friday that some vaccination campaigns had been suspended as health workers were diverted to fighting COVID-19. UNICEF and the World Health Organization warned in mid-April that approximately 117 million children worldwide risked contracting measles as dozens of countries curtailed vaccination programmes to battle the pandemic.
INDUSTRY – The Dacia plant in Mioveni, owned by the French group Renault, has fully resumed operations as of today, more than a month since the employees’ contracts had been suspended. During the period of inactivity, employees have received 85% of their base wages, in keeping with their labor contracts. Some of the company’s operations have been resumed starting April 21st. The other car producer in Romania, the Ford plant in Craiova, also stopped operations on March 19 and has resumed production today.
PANDEMIC – The European Union is today hosting an online conference for governments and organisations to pledge money to support the search for a vaccine to the novel coronavirus. Ahead of the event, Charles Michel, President of the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, Italy’s PM Giuseppe Conte, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Erna Solberg the Prime Minister of Norway have drawn up a joint message saying: “Our aim is simple: on the 4th of May we want to raise, in an online pledging conference, an initial 7.5 billion euros (8 billion dollars) to make up the global funding shortfall estimated by the Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) and others. (…) The funds that we raise will kick-start an unprecedented global cooperation between scientists and regulators, industry and governments, international organisations, foundations and health care professionals. “
INTERNATIONAL FIREFIGHTERS DAY – International Firefighters Day is celebrated every year on May 4th, in recognition of their extraordinary commitment, courage and sacrifice. Firefighters are one of the groups in the forefront of the coronavirus crisis response. In many countries they are involved not only in their traditional role, but also in helping to assure other essential services to their communities such as driving ambulances, delivery of medicines and food, covid-19 testing or retrieval of the deceased. In 2019, almost 240 000 persons were employed as firefighters in the 22 EU member states with available data, representing 0.1% of total EU employment. According to the Eurostat, in 2018, the EU member states’ government expenditure on fire-protection services amounted to 29.5 billion euros. This expenditure is equivalent to 0.5% of total government expenditure. Higher figures are reported by Romania, with 0.8% of the government expenditure and Bulgaria with 0.9%.
CORONAVIRUS ROMANIA — Romanian President, Klaus Iohannis, is today holding a new meeting with the Government members on the COVID-19 epidemic and further steps to be taken in dealing with it. The head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, said on a TV programme on Sunday evening that after May 15, when the state of emergency is expected to be lifted, people will have to wear protective masks on public transport and avoid crowds. The death toll from the coronavirus is 803 in Romania today according to the authorities. There are over 13,500 confirmed infections and over 5,200 recoveries across the country. Over 2,300 Romanian citizens have been infected with the coronavirus abroad, of whom almost 100 have died, most of them in Italy. (Translated by Elena Enache)
