\n
<\/p>\n
INVESTIGATION. Another
\npatient, who had been transferred to a different pavilion of the Matei Bal\u015f
\nInstitute following Friday’s fire, has died. The announcement was made by the
\nMinistry of Health, which has also mentioned that the patient was suffering from
\na severe form of Covid-19 and had many underlying conditions. A team of
\nprosecutors, forensic police and specialists continues field investigations in
\nthe case of the fire that broke out on Friday at a pavilion of the Matei Bal\u015f Institute in Bucharest, where COVID-19 patients were treated in intensive care.
\nAccording to some judicial sources, quoted by Agerpres, at the Homicide Service
\nof the Bucharest Police Department, the
\nhearings of witnesses will be resumed, including medical staff, but also
\nrelatives of the eight victims. Investigators are also conducting checks on
\nfire protection, electrical maintenance and hospital security services. In this
\ncase, the prosecutor’s office started an in rem action, for manslaughter. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
VACCINE. A new tranche of COVID-19 vaccine produced by
\nPfizer-BioNTech, the largest so far, has arrived in Romania today. The delivery
\nschedule is much delayed, as in all European countries, but the manufacturing
\ncompany has given assurances that, from the middle of this month, the number of
\ndelivered doses will increase. Authorities in Bucharest have also announced
\nthat the administration of the Moderna vaccine starts today. So far, more than 670
\nthousand people have been vaccinated in Romania. The number of infections with
\nthe new coronavirus has exceeded 730,000. Most of the patients have been cured,
\nbut some 18,400 have died. About 1000 patients are hospitalized in intensive
\ncare units. Abroad, some 8 thousand Romanians have been infected and 151 have
\ndied of Covid-19. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
PARLIAMENT. Romanian senators and deputies,
\nelected in December, start today the first session of the new Legislature. The
\npriority is the adoption of the State Budget Law for this year. The representatives
\nof the governing coalition formed by the National Liberal Party, the Save
\nRomania Union – PLUS Alliance and the Union of Democratic Hungarians in Romania
\nwant to initiate large-scale reforms in the field of salaries, pensions,
\neducation and health. In turn, opposition parties have announced that they will
\npromote the initiatives they talked about during the election campaign and that
\nthey will bring more amendments to the Government’s bills. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
PROTEST. In Bucharest, members of the SANITAS Federation are
\nprotesting today in front of the Government headquarters, to demand respect for
\nthe rights of employees in the health-care system. The union accuses the
\nauthorities of indifference and says it is protesting for those who have been
\nfighting the virus that caused the pandemic for more than 12 months and for the
\nrights of colleagues in vaccination and social assistance centers. Sanitas
\ndemands compliance with the salary increases planned for 2021, fixing
\ninequities affecting the categories of employees with the lowest incomes in the
\nsystem, reporting increases to the basic salary paid for all employees in the
\nhealth system and providing the risk incentive for social workers.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
INCOMES. Most Romanians do not expect their incomes to
\ngrow in 2021. According to an IRSOP survey, 54% of respondents say their
\nearnings will be similar to last year, 17% lower and 27% think their earnings
\nwill be bigger. Almost two thirds of Romanians believe that prices will rise a
\nlot this year, and 30 percent anticipate a slightly more moderate increase.
\nDespite the health crisis, last year, 33% of those surveyed managed to save
\nmoney, and in 2021, almost half say they intend to put money aside. The IRSOP
\nsurvey, funded from its own funds, was conducted over January 18 to 28 on a
\nrepresentative sample and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5%.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
RUSSIA. The High Representative of the European Union
\nJosep Borrell has deplored the massive arrests during Sunday’s protests against
\nPresident Vladimir Putin and for the release of his main opponent, Alexei
\nNavalny, as well as what he called the disproportionate use of force against
\nprotesters and journalists. Borell’s reaction comes shortly before his visit to
\nMoscow on February 4-6 to ask for Navalny’s release and to discuss means of normalizing
\nrelations between Russia and the European Union. The US Secretary of State
\nAntony Blinken has also condemned Moscow’s crackdown on anti-government
\nprotesters. In response, the Russian MFA accused the United States of blatant
\ninterference in its internal affairs. It was the second round of protests since
\nNavalny was detained upon his return from Germany, where he was treated after an
\nalleged poisoning that he blames on President Vladimir Putin and the Russian
\nsecurity services. <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\n
\n
\n
<\/p>\n
TENNIS. The Romanian tennis player Simona Halep, world
\nnumber two, has qualified for the eight finals of the Gippsland Trophy
\ntournament in Melbourne, with 55,000 $ in prize money. Halep has won her first
\nmatch of 2021 against the Russian Anastasia Potapova, 6-4, 6-4. Next, Halep
\nwill play against the winner of the match between the Australian Destanee Aiava
\nand Laura Siegemund of Germany. On Tuesday, the other Romanian in the
\ncompetition, Irina Begu, will play in the second round against Aliaksandra
\nSasnovich of Belarus. (M. Ignatescu)<\/p><\/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":[36027,35374,36026,36025,33404,32402],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104888","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-antony-blinken","tag-covid-19","tag-josep-borrell","tag-matei-bals","tag-sanitas","tag-vaccine"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n