May 8, 2021

Romania hosts activities to boost immunisation against Covid-19./ President Klaus Iohannis attends online EU-India summit.

Newsroom, 08.05.2021, 14:00

Covid-19 Romania. Coronavirus cases continue to drop in Romania, where some
1,300 new cases were recorded on Saturday. 104 new related fatalities were also
reported, with the death toll nearing 29,000. To date, over 2 million Romanians
are fully vaccinated. Activities aimed at boosting immunisation are held across
the country. A drive-through vaccination centre where no previous appointment
is required opened this weekend in Iaşi, in the north-east. Military hospitals
also begin administering the Covid vaccine to the general population. Two
vaccination marathons are under way in Bucharest at two different locations,
involving some 1,200 volunteers, including doctors, nurses and medical students
and which are staying open round the clock until Monday morning. Prime minister
Florin Cîţu said such initiatives to speed up mass immunisation will take
Romania one step closer to a return to normalcy from 1st June.

Covid-19 world. German Parliament
approves bill on lifting a number of daily restrictions for millions of fully
vaccinated people or who have recovered from the coronavirus. The new
regulations will apply from Sunday. The federal justice minister Christine Lambrecht said fully vaccinated people and those who have
recovered from the virus will no longer have to present a negative Covid test
when entering shops or hair dressers. In India, on the other hand, the daily death
toll passed 4,000 for the first time. According to the BBC, experts say that
the number of deaths is in fact much higher and that the second wave will not
reach its peak by the end of May. They are warning about an explosion in the
number of new infections given that the virus is spreading to the rural areas,
where there is a shortage of public health facilities.

Summit. Romanian president Klaus
Iohannis is attending the EU-India summit in videoconference format, with talks
focusing on the consolidation of cooperation in efforts to combat the pandemic,
the further development of commercial ties and encouraging cooperation in the
area of connectivity. On Friday, the EU heads of state and government meeting
for a social summit in Portugal discussed a ten-year action plan on social
rights. The plan aims to eliminate the poverty risk for 15 million people,
create jobs for at least 78% of the population and provide yearly professional
training for most workers. The talks were attended by employers, trade unions
and representatives of civil society. According to the president of the
European Parliament David Sassoli, the summit is fundamental
for shaping the social aspect of the Union’s recovery from the Covid-19
pandemic based on citizens’ social rights. President Klaus Iohannis called for
coordination at European level to allow people to study and work wherever they
choose in the single market.

IMF. An expert
team of the International Monetary Fund headed by the chief of the IMF mission
for Romania, Jan Kees Martijn, will hold online talks with the Romanian
authorities starting on Monday. For three weeks, the IMF experts will discuss
economic policies and developments with representatives of the Finance
Ministry, the National Bank, of other governmental agencies, the business
sector and NGOs. Romania does not have, at present, a financing agreement with
the IMF, but the latter is annually assessing the evolution of the Romanian
economy.

Tennis. Two Romanian players are in
action today at the Rome tennis tournament. Irina Begu is facing Germany’s Andrea
Petkovic and Patricia Tig is playing China’s Yafan Wang. Simona Halep is also
in competition in Rome, seeking to defend last year’s title.

Volleyball. The Romanian men’s volleyball side are
today playing Swizerland in a qualifying tournament in Nitra ahead of the 2021
Men’s European Volleyball Champions. They lost to Slovakia on Friday and
earlier defeated Albania. The second qualifying tournament is due next weekend
in Ploieşti, in southern Romania. Qualifying
matches were initially scheduled for last summer but because of the
coronavirus pandemic, they were first postponed
and then grouped into two tournaments. The winners of the seven preliminary
groups and five of the best second-ranked sides will qualify for the
championship, which will be hosted jointly by four countries, Poland, the Czech
Republic, Estonia and Finland between 1st and 19th
September. (CM)