May 8, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 08.05.2021, 14:07

Covid-19 Romania. 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 2.3 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 began 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. A new record was also set, with over 110,000 doses administered in the
space of 24 hours. 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. The president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said the
Union signed a new contract with BioNTech-Pfizer to buy 1.8 billion doses of
Covid vaccine. These new deliveries, due to start this year and continue until
2023, will also enable the vaccination of children and adolescents and
adaptation to new strains of the virus. Germany will lift a number of daily
restrictions for millions of fully vaccinated people or who have recovered from
the coronavirus 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.

Summit. Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on
Saturday attended the EU-India summit held in videoconference format and where
the two sides pledged to negotiations talks on a trade deal and human rights
talks. On Friday, the EU heads of state and government meeting in Porto for a
social summit, 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. At
an informal meeting of the European Council, Romanian president Klaus Iohannis again
called for consolidating coordination among EU member states in the context of
the coronavirus pandemic, saying immunisation remains a priority.

Military. The Romanian military
deployed to Afghanistan are beginning to return home. The first contingent of
some 70 persons arrived on Saturday. More than 600 Romanian military are due to
withdraw from Afghanistan, with the pull out operation expected to end by 11th
September. Romania has contributed troops to Afghanistan since 2002, both as
part of the Enduring Freedom mission and to the International Security Assistance
Force in solidarity with its American strategic partner and to consolidate its
position as an allied partner. Over 32,000 Romanian troops have since carried
out missions in Afghanistan during 6-month cycles. 27 Romanian soldiers were
killed in combat actions and over 200 were wounded in the 19 years of presence
in this theatre of operations.

Tennis. Two Romanian players were in
action on Saturday at the Rome tennis tournament. Irina Begu lost to Germany’s Andrea
Petkovic and Patricia Tig defeated China’s Yafan Wang. Another Romanian
player, world no. 3 Simona Halep is also in competition in Rome, seeking to
defend last year’s title. (CM)