ALERT About 100 people took to the
\nstreets of Bucharest on Friday to protest the restrictions imposed during the
\nstate of alert. On Friday Romania replaced the state of emergency with a 30-day
\nstate of alert, enabling the authorities to continue the fight against the COVID-19
\noutbreak. In shops, public transportation, at work and in other indoor public
\nareas, protective face masks are compulsory. Citizens may move freely within
\ntheir home localities, but a sworn statement and justified reasons are
\nnecessary in order to leave the locality. Romania’s president Klaus Iohannis Friday
\nsigned into law a bill on measures to prevent and contain the effects of the COVID-19
\npandemic. The bill was previously endorsed by Parliament with a number of
\namendments, including the fact that a state of alert introduced in at least
\nhalf of the national territory needs to be approved by Parliament. <\/p>\n
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MARKET Romania’s car market registered a 30% slump in the first four
\nmonths of this year as compared to the same period last year, data released on
\nFriday by the Association of Car Producers and Importers shows. The main causes
\nwere the COVID pandemic, circulation restrictions as well as the all-out halt
\nin Europe’s car production. Local brand Dacia tops the ranking of the
\nbest-selling cars with 9551 vehicles, followed by Volkswagen with 3436, Renault
\nwith 2961, Skoda 2779 and Ford with 2564 vehicles sold. <\/p>\n
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CEI Romania’s foreign
\nminister Bogdan Aurescu on Friday attended the extraordinary summit of Central
\nEuropean Initiative (CEI) held over conference call. The head of the Romanian
\ndiplomacy referred to the support Romania offered to Italy and the Republic of
\nMoldova. Over April 7th and 24th, a team of 11 Romanian doctors and nurses
\njoined their Italian counterparts in the fight against the pandemic. A Romanian
\nconvoy of 20 trucks carrying medical equipment of 3.5 million euros has this
\nmonth arrived in the Romanian-speaking Republic of Moldova to help the
\nneighbouring country fight the pandemic. Romania has also sent medical
\npersonnel to the neighboring republic for the same purpose. The CEI is a
\nflexible regional cooperation platform comprising 17 countries, of which 9 EU
\nmember states. <\/p>\n
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ECONOMY Romania’s GDP went up 2.4% in the first quarter of the
\nyear compared to 2019, and 0.3% compared to the previous quarter, the National
\nStatistics Institute announced on Friday. These preliminary figures will be
\nrevised and, given the current context, corrections may be more substantial
\nthan usual, the institution says. The main international financial institutions
\nestimate that Romania’s GDP will drop by 4-6% in 2020, over the corona crisis.<\/p>\n
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COVID-19 Another 14 patients infected
\nwith the new coronavirus have died in Romania, taking the death toll to 1,070, the
\nStrategic Communication Group announced on Friday. More than half of the over
\n16,400 Romanians who have tested positive for the virus so far have recovered.
\nAmong the Romanians living abroad, over 2,880 have been reported to have the
\ndisease, and 103 of them have died.<\/p>\n
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(translated by bill)<\/p>\n
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