COVID-19 IN ROMANIA
\n– The death toll for COVID-19 in Romania has exceeded 1,200, the Group for
\nStrategic Communication reports. The total number of confirmed cases is 18.200,
\nof whom over 11.600 people have recovered. On Monday the Bucharest City Hall
\nkicked off a free testing program addressing 10,500 people from Bucharest, to
\nbe conducted on Romania’s largest stadium, National Arena, while observing all
\ninternational regulations in the field. According to Bucharest Mayor Gabriela
\nFirea, as many as 8 thousand people from Bucharest have signed up on an online platform
\nset up by the City Hall. State Secretary with the Health Ministry, Horatiu Moldovan
\ntold a private TV station that the Government is planning to test 30,000 people
\nacross the country, in an action that will take place once the pandemic has
\npeaked.<\/p>\n
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COVID-19 IN THE WORLD
\n– The total number of confirmed infections with COVID-19 has exceeded 5.5
\nmillion at global level, with the death toll standing at some 347.000. Over 2.3
\nmillion people have recovered. Brazil is now the second most affected country
\nin the world, with 350.000 infected. Europe continues to report the highest
\nnumber of deaths, with 126.000 victims in only four countries – Great Britain,
\nItaly, Spain and France. Meanwhile European countries are gradually relaxing
\nrestrictions imposed to limit the spread of the virus, considering the number
\nof new cases remains low compared to the peak period. Restaurants in Germany
\nand Greece reopened on Monday, while beaches officially opened in Italy. The cities
\nof Madrid and Barcelona, currently the most affected in Spain, on Monday
\nentered the first of the four-stage plan for lifting lockdown restrictions. In
\nthe first phase churches, museums and outlets will admit only a third of
\nentries. Additionally groups of people are limited to a maximum number of 10.
\nThese measures have already been adopted by other regions in Spain, which on Monday
\nentered the second phase of the plan. Meanwhile Japan has lifted the state of
\nemergency. <\/p>\n
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MOTION – The
\nBucharest Chamber of Deputies on Tuesday debated a simple motion against the
\nEducation Minister Monica Anisie, tabled by the MPs with the leftist Social
\nDemocratic Party and Pro Romania Party, both in opposition. The signatories are
\nasking for the minister’s resignation, who they say is lacking vision and a
\nstrategy for the education system. The opposition also claims the education
\nsystem is plunged in chaos, unlike any other time in the last 30 years.
\nMinister Anisie admitted the Romanian education system is facing a great many
\nchallenges, although pointing out she couldn’t solve in seven months what
\nothers failed to do during the course of several years. The vote will be held
\non Wednesday. Another minister that has to pass the test of a simple motion is Interior
\nMinister Marcel Vela. He is expected to appear before the Senate on Tuesday to
\npresent the measures taken during the crisis triggered by the coronavirus
\npandemic. The motion against Vela was initiated by the Social Democrats, who
\nsay that the military decrees adopted included contradictory decisions and
\nmeasures that were later cancelled. <\/p>\n
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HEALTH – 15
\nspecialists with the Romanian defense Ministry on Monday left for the United
\nStates to help authorities in the state of Alabama fight the coronavirus
\npandemic. The five doctors, five nurses and five military specialized in
\ndefense against chemical, biologic, radiologic and nuclear weapons will grant
\nexpert support to their American colleagues in the medical units in Alabama and
\nalso report on the methods the US is using to combat the pandemic. Romania and
\nthe US are NATO allies and bound by a Strategic Partnership. We recall that over
\nApril 17-24, a Romanian team made up of 11 doctors and 6 nurses travelled to
\nItaly to help the medical staff there fight the coronavirus. Also, another team
\ntravelled to the neighboring Republic of Moldova, with a similar mission.<\/p>\n
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AGRICULTURE -
\nSome 1.6 million hectares of farmland are affected by drought, while some 941
\nthousand have already been inspected, Agriculture Minister Adrian Oros said on
\nMonday. The authorities will compensate all farmers who have been affected,
\nalthough the data used for these compensations has to be accurate, Minister
\nOros also said. Previously, the Romanian Agriculture Minister said this is the
\nmost severe drought in the last 60 years in Romania, adding that the irrigation
\nsystem cannot function at full capacity, as many rehabilitation works are
\nsubpar or cannot be correlated with private infrastructure works implemented by
\nfarmers. <\/p>\n
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(Translated by V. Palcu & E. Enache)<\/p>\n
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<\/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":[35374,29163,35543,35542,30130],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-covid-19","tag-drought","tag-mission-to-alabama","tag-monica-anisie","tag-simple-motion"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n