COVID-19 – Romania has reported 1,318 new cases
\nof SARS-CoV-2 in the past 24 hours, the Strategic Communication Group has
\nannounced. 48 new fatalities have been reported bringing the total death toll
\nto 3,507. Since the beginning of the pandemic Romania has reported a total of
\n84,468 cases while 37,056 patients have been declared healed. 8,797 people are
\npresently in home isolation while 30,877 people have been quarantined at home.
\n497 patients are in intensive care units. 6,589 Romanian nationals abroad have
\nbeen confirmed positive, most of them in Germany, Italy and Spain. 126 of these
\nhave died so far. According to the country’s Health Minister Nelu Tataru, there
\nis no need for additional restrictive measures in Romania as the number of
\ninfections is on a downward trend.<\/p>\n
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PANDEMIC – Over 24.6 million COVID infections
\nhave been reported around the world with a death toll that exceeds 830 thousand
\naccording to worldometers.info. The largest number of cases has been reported
\nin the USA and Brazil. Data released by the John Hopkins University shows that
\nthe death toll in the USA is presently exceeding 180 thousand. According to
\nAFP, although the number of infections has been going down in the past weeks,
\nthe country is far from overcoming the medical crisis. Brazil has reported 3.75
\nmillion cases, while the official death toll exceeds 188 thousand. Several
\nEuropean states, including France, Spain and Germany, are reintroducing health
\nsafety measures, against the backdrop of a resurge in the number of infections,
\nahead of the start of a new school year. Hungary will close down its borders to
\nforeign tourists on September 1, with certain exceptions. <\/p>\n
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ELECTION – The campaign for the local election due on September 27th
\nhas officially kicked off in Romania. The election, which was initially
\nscheduled to take place in June, has been postponed due to the pandemic. Campaign
\nteams and candidates are going to wear masks during both outdoor and indoor
\nmeetings. Indoor meetings will be attended by 50 people at the most, whereas
\nthe number of participants in the outdoor events should not exceed 100 people. <\/p>\n
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MEETING – Over August 27-28, Romania’s Foreign
\nMinister Bogdan Aurescu attended the informal meeting of the EU foreign
\nministers in Berlin, held under the EU’s German presidency. As part of talks
\nregarding Turkey, the Romanian diplomat expressed concern with the rising
\ntension in the Eastern Mediterranean, calling for calm and dialogue between all
\ninvolved parties. He expressed solidarity with Greece and Cyprus and expressed
\nsupport for EU efforts to de-escalate tensions and resume dialogue with Turkey.
\nAs a first step, Minister Aurescu suggested introducing a standstill agreement
\non exploration in the disputed area pending a clear delimitation, either via
\nnegotiations or by referring the matter to the International Court of Justice.
\nOn the other hand, Bogdan Aurescu called for a firm, coherent, coordinated and
\ncomprehensive policy to obtain results in relations with the Russian
\nFederation, which remains a strategic challenge for the EU and Member States.
\nThe 27 EU Foreign Ministers agreed on instating sanctions on some 20 officials close
\nto Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, the EU High Representative for
\nForeign Affairs, Josep Borrell has said. The measures are targeting
\nhigh-ranking officials involved in rigging the August 9 election and repressing
\nthe ensuing street protests. <\/p>\n
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STATISTICS – On January 1st this year
\nRomania had a resident population of 19,318,000, 96,500 less as compared to the
\nsame period last year – a communiqu\u00e9 issued by the National Institute for
\nStatistics (INS) shows, confirming the deepening phenomenon of population
\naging. According to the same sources, the main cause of this demographic slump
\nis the negative population growth, as the number of deceased has exceeded the
\nnumber of births by 73,630. According to the Institute, Romania continues to be
\na country with a large number of emigrants, which is the second cause of this
\ndemographic slump. <\/p>\n
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ENESCU CONTEST – The prestigious George Enescu
\ninternational music contest kicks off on Saturday. The competition is unfolding
\nonline this year, due to coronavirus restrictions. 205 young musicians from 39
\ncountries have enrolled, of whom 184 are competing in the violin, cello and
\npiano competitions, and 21 are taking part in the composition section. The
\nopening event is hosted by the Romanian Athenaeum in Bucharest in front of an
\nempty hall. As a premiere, Dan Dediu’s Triple Concert for violin, cello and
\npiano, dubbed The Brahmsodhy, will be performed, in addition to Alexandru
\nStefan Murariu’s Concert for clarinet and orchestra, a work that scooped First
\nPrize in the 2018 edition of the contest. The concert will be broadcast live on
\nfestivalenescu.ro by the public TV station and Radio Romania Music. Prizes this
\nyear stand at \u20ac100.000.<\/p>\n
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FOOTBALL – In Thursday’s first preliminary round
\nof Europa League, FC Botosani won 2-1 against FC Ordabasy of Kazakhstan away
\nfrom home, while FCSB defeated FC Shirak of Armenia 3-nil at home. Romania’s
\nvice-champions, CS Universitatea Craiova, were ousted 1-2 in Georgia by FC
\nLocomotive Tbilisi. The matches were played in a one-leg only system. On
\nWednesday, on home turf, CFR Cluj was ousted in the Champions League second
\npreliminary round after losing the faceoff with Dinamo Zagreb at the penalty
\nshootout. CFR will next play in Europa League. The draw for the next phase will
\nbe held next week. <\/p>\n
\n
<\/p>\n
(Translated by D. Bilt & 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":[28963,35374,35710,35709],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-bogdan-aurescu","tag-covid-19","tag-george-enescu-music-contest","tag-locval-election"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n