PANDEMIC
\nEurope’s concern about
\nthe novel strains of the Covid-19 virus is on the rise. The UK announced it can
\nresort to additional prevention measures, including the isolation of visitors in
\nhotels made available by the authorities. With six million, Britain boasts the highest
\nnumber of people immunized so far. Norway is expected to close its borders for
\nall visitors, with the exception of those essential, applying some of the
\ntoughest prevention measures in Europe. The country, which is not an EU member,
\nhas announced these restrictions after the discovery of an outbreak of the more
\ncontagious strain initially identified in Britain. The government in Berlin is
\nconsidering the cancellation of almost all international flights in order to
\nprevent the spreading of the mutating virus. In Portugal, the government
\ndecided to cancel all the flights towards Brazil starting this Friday, due to
\nthe growing number of infections. The new strain, initially discovered in
\nBritain, has also been detected in other 70 countries, the WHO says. According
\nto worldmeters.info, over 101 million infections have been registered worldwide
\nso far and at least 2.1 million people have died. <\/p>\n
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CLIMATE US president Joe Biden on Wednesday said the US must lead the
\nworld response to the climate crisis. Biden has signed a series of executive
\norders designed to address climate change; they are aimed at freezing new oil
\nand gas leases on public lands and double off-shore wind produced energy by
\n2030. The new US president has appointed John Kerry as the special presidential
\nenvoy for climate. Biden has announced an environment summit the US is going to
\nstage on Earth Day, April 22nd, which also coincides with the fifth
\nanniversary of the Paris Agreement, the USA rejoined shortly after he had taken
\npower. During the summit the USA is expected to announce fresh measures aimed
\nat reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Biden also intends to present before the
\nCongress a 2 billion dollar climate package, which is expected to place
\nenvironmental measures at the centre of the US economy. <\/p>\n
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VACCINE Romania’s national vaccination campaign is in full swing, with over 570
\nthousand people immunized so far. Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu has announced
\nthat certain centres, which immunized people from outside the eligible
\ncategories, are to face sanctions. In turn Education Minister Sorin Cimpeanu
\nsays that the personnel in the country’s Education system will benefit from a
\nspecial immunization line adding that the evolution of the infection rate is
\ndecisive in the decision to bring students back to school again. Last week
\nRomania received only half of the doses requested and now has a deficit of 117
\nthousand. Over 29 hundred fresh infections were announced on Thursday. Since
\nthe outbreak, 721 thousand people have got infected in Romania and more than 18
\nthousand died. About one thousand people are currently being treated in IC
\nunits. <\/p>\n
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PROTEST Members of the Medical Solidarity Trade Union Federation have
\ntaken to the streets of Bucharest today calling for protection measures for the
\nworkers in Romania’s medical field after 93 professionals in this field have so
\nfar died in the line of duty. Besides legal rights, other claims are focusing
\non various forms of recognizing the efforts and sacrifices made by the medical
\npersonnel. According to unionists, protests have also been caused by the
\nincumbent government’s refusal to participate in a social dialogue. Also on
\nThursday, in Iasi, north-eastern Romania, trade unionists from the country’s
\npenitentiary system protested over wage freeze in the sector. Protesters have
\ncalled for the elimination of unequal pay in the public system, the
\nimplementation of the pay law in state-owned institutions and a minimum wage
\nadjusted to the latest price hikes in consumer goods. <\/p>\n
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(bill)<\/p>\n
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