October 9, 2020
A news roundup
Newsroom, 09.10.2020, 13:55
Covid-19 Romania — 3,186 new cases of SARS-CoV-2 infection have been reported in Romania in the past 24 hours, following the testing of 29,282 people across Romania, the Strategic Communication Group announced. 52 new deaths have been reported which takes the death toll to 5,299. This is the 2nd consecutive day when Romania reports more than 3 thousand new cases of COVID-19. Since the onset of the pandemic in late February Romania has reported more than 148 thousand cases. Over 114 thousand people have recovered. 613 people are currently in ICUs. In BUhcarest there are tens of corona hotbeds, the total number of infections reaching 21,434, with 2.28 cases per 1,000 inhabitants. As to the Romanians from abroad, a total of 6,777 have been confirmed with SARS-CoV-2 and 126 have died.
Hospitality industry – In Bucharest, the PM Ludovic Orban is to meet today with the hospitality industry representatives, an industry strongly affected by the pandemic. On Thursday the government discussed for the first time a draft emergency decree that exempts hospitality industry companies from specific tax payment by the end of the year. Another provision in the decree says that tax payers can pay overdue payments by installments, for a period of 12 months, since they were unable to pay them on time due to the state of emergency declared in March.
Covid-19 world — The latest developments related to the new coronavirus pandemic are worrying, making headlines in the international press. Hospitals in Paris are in a crisis and Italy reports 4 thousand new cases every day for the first time since April — writes the Guardian. Germany has imposed new restrictions to limit domestic tourism in a bid to avoid a second wave of the pandemic — shows the Financial Times. Brazil, the second hardest-hit country of the world, after the US, has reached 5 million cases, according to Reuters. Wiener Zeitung looks at the social consequences of the coronavirus crisis, identifying a worsening of the situation of the people on the verge of poverty, mainly of those with health conditions and of long-term unemployed people, of young people and freelancers. On the other hand the rich of the world have become even richer shows France 24, quoting a report of UBS bank and of PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Holocaust — The Romanian President Klaus Iohannis on Friday conveyed a message on the occasion of the National Holocaust Remembrance Day, paying homage to the victims and honoring the survivors. The Romanian President has equally condemned the atrocities that have for ever mutilated Romania’s history. ‘On behalf of all Romanians, I am strongly stating that we will never forget the innocent victims and, at the same time, we are pledging to never allow such a tragedy to happen’ says the President’s message. The Foreign Ministry officials also paid homage to the victims of the Holocaust and asked for national and international action to be taken to fight the proliferation of instigation to hatred and anti-Semitism in the online environment. In the 1940s hundreds of thousands of Jews of Romanian origin were deported to Transdniester (east) by Ion Antonescu’s pro-German regime in Bucharest or sent to the Nazi extermination camps by the Hungarian fascists that, at the time, occupied a great part of Transylvania (northwest).
Washington — The Romanian economy minister Virgil Popescu and the American Secretary for Energy Dan Brouillette will initiate today in Washington an inter-governmental cooperation accord for the refurbishment of a nuclear reactor and the building of another two reactors at the Cernavoda power plant in the southeast of Romania. On Thursday the Romanian defense minister Nicolae Ciuca and his American counterpart Mark Esper signed, in Washington, a 10-year road map for defense cooperation. The document reflects common targets and interests in the defense field as well as the modernization of this sector and the security of the Black Sea region. (tr. L. Simion)
