Covid-19 Romania<\/strong> In a
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Workers<\/strong> Romanians who were working as seasonal workers in Italy are to be brought home
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Pandemic<\/strong> The Covid-19
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EC<\/strong> The European
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Central Bank<\/strong> The Romanian
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Equipment<\/strong> Romanian army
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":75903,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104221","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\npublic address on Friday, Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis urged all
\nRomanians to show responsibility and observe the rules imposed by authorities.
\nHe said he was very much impressed by the large number of people willing to
\nsupport doctors, hospitals and people in difficulty. In another move, the
\nGovernment has announced more severe punishments for the crime of hampering the
\nprevention of the spread of the epidemic and for false declarations about the
\ncoronavirus pandemic. The decision to harshen such penalties was taken after
\nmany people placed in isolation did not observe the measure and many lied to the
\nauthorities although they had come from red zones. The new punishments can go
\nas far as 15 years in prison. So far, 367 cases of coronavirus infection have
\nbeen confirmed in Romania. Of them 52 have been cured. Outside Romania’s
\nborders, 7 Romanians have died of Covid-19, 6 in Italy and one in France. So
\nfar, 30 Romanians abroad have been infected, 23 in Italy, 2 in Namibia and one
\neach in Spain, Luxembourg, Ireland, Tunis and France. <\/p>\n
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\nby plane. The first group will be brought today from Turin. The Romanian
\nForeign Ministry and the Transport Ministry have identified several
\npossibilities to bring them home, as these people have been affected by the
\nimpact of the pandemic on many economic activities in the peninsula and have no
\nmeans to remain there. The ministry, on the other hand, has called on the
\npopulation to avoid any unnecessary travel and urged the Romanians tourists who
\nare temporarily abroad to come back urgently. According to the Romanian Foreign
\nMinistry, the Romanian citizens residing abroad must strictly abide by the recommendations
\nmade by those countries’ authorities and avoid travelling to Romania. <\/p>\n
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\npandemic continues to spread across Europe. Italy is the most affected country
\nin the world, with 627 deaths reported on Friday alone. The most affected region
\nis still Lombardy, in the north, but the virus has started spreading towards
\nthe south too. The other countries that have reported high death tolls are
\nSpain, France and Great Britain. The EC President Ursula von der Leyen has
\nannounced that the rules on EU budget discipline have been suspended, in order
\nto allow the member states to spend whatever is necessary in the fight against
\nthe pandemic. In another development, on Friday China was faced with a record
\nincrease in the number of infections, as a large number of expats from the US
\nand Europe returned home. The total number of cases confirmed in China stands
\nat over 81 thousand, and the number of deaths has exceeded 3250. The US is
\nfacing problems too, as 20 thousand cases and some 300 deaths have been
\nconfirmed, with New York as the epicenter of the crisis. The situation in Iran
\nand South Korea is also bad. The total number of deaths caused by Covid-19
\naround the globe has exceeded 10 thousand. <\/p>\n
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\nCommission has announced it will direct more than one billion Euros to Romania
\nto help the health-care system and loaning for SMEs affected by the pandemic.
\n438 million Euro come from renouncing this year the obligation to request the
\nreimbursement by Romania of the prefunds left unused from structural funds.
\nAdding to that will be another 637 million, by disbursing a down payment for
\nthe 2020 structural funds in March and April.<\/p>\n
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\nCentral Bank has decided to reduce the key interest rate from 2.5% to 2% as of
\nMonday, and has also taken other measures against the background of the
\nproblems triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Central Bank’s board has
\ndecided to inject liquidities into the banking system in order to ensure a
\nbetter funding of the economy and the purchase of bonds from the banks that own
\nthem. Another measure is to narrow the interest corridor from 1% to 0.5%.
\nTherefore, the penalty interest for banks drops from 3.5% to 2.5%. <\/p>\n
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\nresearchers have designed an isolation stretcher that has been tested and
\napproved, and its production will start soon. The National Defense Ministry has
\nannounced that the new equipment ensures the temporary isolation and safe
\ntransport of people suspected or confirmed as being infected with the new
\ncoronavirus. It has a filtered air ventilation system and meets all safety
\nstandards to avoid contamination during transportation. <\/p>\n