\n
<\/p>\n
COVID-19 IN ROMANIA – The anti-COVID-19 vaccination campaign
\ncontinues in Romania. Since the debut of the campaign on December 27, 2020, some
\n1.5 million people have been immunized with the vaccines produced by
\nPfizer-BioNTech, Moderna or AstraZeneca. On Monday the campaign entered its
\nthird phase addressing the general population. For the time being the
\nimmunization process is carried out in towns and villages where the COVID
\ninfection rate exceeds 4.5 per thousand inhabitants. People can register on waiting
\nlists on the online platform, where over 350 thousand people have already
\nsigned up. On Tuesday, over 6,000 new COVID infections were reported in Romania
\nin addition to 133 related fatalities. Over 1,200 people are in intensive care.
\nThe total number of infections at national level exceeded 868,000, while some
\n21,700 people have died. We recall the state of alert has been extended for
\nanother 30 days. All restrictions imposed so far remain in place, with the
\nexception of the nighttime curfew, which now begins at 10 PM and ends at 5 AM.<\/p>\n
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COVID-19 IN THE WORLD – The World
\nHealth Organization (WHO) has today summoned its group of vaccine experts to
\nstudy health risks posed by the vaccine manufactured by AstraZeneca, WHO
\ndirector Tedros
\nAdhanom Ghebreyesus has said. The WHO on Monday announced its consultative
\ngroup examined the reports on the anti-COVID-19 vaccine produced by AstraZeneca
\nand found no evidence that the vaccine could result in blood clots. Numerous
\ncountries have suspended the administration of this vaccine as a precaution
\nafter numerous side effects have been reported. The European Medicines Agency
\n(EMA) also announced it would hold a special meeting on Thursday to discuss
\nthis topic, saying that the benefits of the AstraZeneca vaccine outweigh the
\nrisks. <\/p>\n
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\n
\n
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ENERGY – Romania’s Energy
\nMinister, Virgil Popescu, is today concluding his two-day visit to Brussels,
\nwhere he held talsk with EU officials regarding plans to restructure the Oltenia
\nEnergy Company (southern Romania). In December, Romanian authorities officially
\nnotified the European Commission regarding plans to restructure the Company,
\nwhich include financial assistance from the state. On February 5, the European
\nCommission announced the launch of a comprehensive investigation of the state
\nfunding allotted to restructure the company. The Oltenia Energy Company needs
\nthe approval of the European Commission by the end of April in order to receive
\nthe funds which will be used to pay carbon gas emission permits for 2020
\npenalty-free.<\/p>\n
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\n
\n
\n
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CAR SECTOR – The sale of
\nnew cars went down in Romania by nearly 40% in the first two months of 2021,
\ncompared to the same period of 2020, data published by the Association of Car
\nManufacturers and Importers shows. The share of cars running on gas dropped by
\n5%, reaching 60% of the total number of cars on the market. Diesel-fuel cars
\nhave a share of 26%. Electric and hybrid cars account for 13% of the total
\nnumber of cars, which is double the number of cars reported last year. In terms
\nof ownership, most cars were purchased by businesses in the first two months of
\nthis year, accounting for two thirds of total car sales. <\/p>\n
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\n
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MOTION – The Senate is today
\ndebating and voting a simple motion filed by the Social-Democratic Party in
\nopposition against Economy Minister, Claudiu N\u0103sui. The Social-Democrats accuse
\nthe USR Minister for failing to present any strategy to support the Romanian
\nindustry, postponing the implementation of state assistance to the hospitality
\nsector, slashing holiday vouchers and blocking payments under the Start-Up
\nNation programme. In turn, Claudiu N\u0103sui says this motion is linked with the
\npublication of all contracts signed by the Economy Ministry in previous years
\nand that disclosures would continue. Liberal Senators have been urged to vote
\nagainst the motion. On the other hand, Parliament is due to set the date for a
\nnew plenary session to vote on Romania’s contribution to the EU budget, after
\nlast week the power and the opposition couldn’t reach an agreement. A decision
\nin this respect needs two thirds of the votes, while the Social-Democrats said
\nthey would vote in favor only if the National Recovery and Resilience Plan is
\npresented before Parliament. <\/p>\n
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\n
\n
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<\/p>\n
TENNIS – Romanian tennis player
\nSimona Halep (no. 3 WTA) has confirmed her participation in the tennis
\ntournament in Miami, to take place over March 23 – April 3. Halep grabbed her
\nbest results in Miami in 2015 and 2019, when she reached the semi-finals. The defending
\nchampion is Ashleigh Barty of Australia, who won the tournament in 2019, since
\nlast year’s tournament was cancelled due to the pandemic. Taking part will be
\nall players in the WTA Top 10. Representing Romania in the main draw will also
\nbe Patricia \u0162ig, Sorana C\u00eerstea and Irina Begu. (V.P.)<\/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":[35953,36091,35374,36086,30130,32402,36089,35334,36092],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-104968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-astrazeneca","tag-claudiu-nasui","tag-covid-19","tag-oltenia-energy-company","tag-simple-motion","tag-vaccine","tag-virgil-popescu","tag-who","tag-wta-tournament-in-miami"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n