COVID-19 IN ROMANIA – The death toll for the COVID-19 pandemic in
\nRomania stands at 1.179. The number of confirmed cases exceeds 18.000, while
\nsome 11.400 people have recovered. The number of people in quarantine has
\ndropped by some 30% since the beginning of the week. The number of people in
\nisolation at home has gone up, however, after many Romanians returned to the
\ncountry after the lifting of the state of emergency. Two villages in the
\nnortheast entered quarantine after 14 confirmed cases were reported in the last
\nweek. The Bucharest City Hall has launched an online platform where 11,000
\nvolunteers can sign up for free tests for COVID-19. The City Hall next week
\nwill launch another testing project addressing a sample population of 10,500
\npeople from Bucharest.<\/p>\n
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REPATRIATIONS
\n– 277 Romanian citizens were repatriated from France and Great Britain on
\nSaturday, in a joint effort of the Foreign, Interior and Transport Ministries.
\nAccording to the Foreign Ministry, the 140 Romanians repatriated from France are
\nErasmus students, people whose labor contracts have been terminated, tourists transiting
\nFrance from the United States and medical residents who completed their
\ninternships in France. The 137 Romanians from the UK are students, hospitalized
\npeople whom the British authorities helped repatriate, people without shelter
\nand seasonal workers from Jersey Island. The Romanian authorities also helped
\nfour foreign citizens return to Romania, two French, one Canadian and 1
\nBritish. The operation was carried out using two special flights operated by
\nthe national airliner TAROM to Paris and London. The flight to Paris also
\nhelped 76 French citizens return to their home country. Also on Saturday, 92
\nRomanian citizens, including seasonal workers, were repatriated from Germany
\nvia a special flight coordinated by the Ministries of Transports and the
\nInterior in cooperation with the relevant German authorities. The flight was
\noperated by a private airliner via Nurnberg – Frankfurt – Cluj. The operations
\nare part of the Government’s efforts to repatriate Romanian nationals with
\ntemporary stay permits abroad who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n
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PENSIONS
\n– Public pensions will go up starting September 1, but the quantum will depend
\non the state of the economy, Prime Minister Ludovic Orban told a television
\nstation on Saturday. The Romanian official said the economy has been affected
\nby the coronavirus crisis, adding that a report on the state of the economy and
\nthe budget will be made public after the first half of the year. The Prime
\nMinister also said local elections might be organized in late September, while
\nlegislative elections could be scheduled for December 6, depending on the
\nevolution of the pandemic. <\/p>\n
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FLIGHTS
\n– The national passenger airliner TAROM will resume its flights operated to
\nItaly starting Tuesday, with return trips to Rome and Milan. The flights will
\nbe operated under special circumstances, observing regulations under the state
\nof alert. According to TAROM, Italian citizens, seasonal workers and people
\nworking in the field of transport will be able to travel to Italy. Returning to
\nRomania will be only Romanian nationals willing to come home. Flights to Rome
\nwill cost 208 Euro, while people travelling to Milan will have to pay 200 Euro.
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ECONOMY
\n– The Romanian economy will shrink by 14.4% in the second quarter of the year,
\naccording to the 2020 Convergence Program published by the Ministry of Public
\nFinance, Agerpres reports. According to the Ministry, the budget deficit
\nestimated using the ESA European methodology will stand at 6.7% at the end of
\n2020, up by 2.4% compared to the level of 2019. This reflects a 39.5% increase
\nin spending and 32.7% in incomes. Gross investments will go down by 2.6% in
\n2020, considering private consumption will shrink by 0.7%, Government
\nconsumption will have a positive impact of 2.4% while exports and imports of
\ngoods and services will have negative dynamics. <\/p>\n
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(Translated by V. Palcu)<\/p>\n
<\/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":[35374,29332,30168,31409,35458,35541],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-covid-19","tag-economic-growth","tag-ludovic-orban","tag-public-pensions","tag-repatriations","tag-tarom-flights"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n