COVID-19 IN ROMANIA -
\n3,474 new cases of COVID-19 infection have been reported in the last 24 hours,
\nthe Group for Strategic Communication announced on Saturday. During the interval,
\n135 fatalities were also reported. 1,505 patients are currently in intensive
\ncare. A quarter of Romania’s counties remain in the red zone, reporting an incidence
\nrate over 3 per thousand inhabitants. Meanwhile the vaccination campaign
\ncontinues. People who want to get the AstraZeneca jab without an appointment
\ncan now do so. According to Prime Minister Florin C\u00ee\u0163u, Romania is expected to
\nhit the 35% mark in early June in terms of the total number of people who’ve
\ngot immunized, which will allow for a gradual relaunch of the economy. The
\nPrime Minister said herd immunity will be achieved when 70% of the total
\npopulation gets immunized, which in Romania is tantamount to some 10 million
\npeople. <\/p>\n
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RATING -
\nStandard and Poor’s financial rating agency has confirmed Romania’s BBB- rating
\nbut improved its prospect from negative to stable. According to the Finance
\nMinistry, this is the first positive evolution in Romania’s financial rating
\noperated by this agency since November 2013. Standard and Poor’s says the
\nstable prospect is indicative of the credibility of fiscal consolidation
\nmeasures promoted by Romania. The agency also believes the Government’s planned
\nreforms could create a more robust fiscal framework, thus limiting the risks of
\nreversing fiscal consolidation policies, which would lead to an improvement in
\nRomania’s rating. <\/p>\n
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DIPLOMACY -
\nRomania’s Foreign Minister, Bogdan Aurescu, hailed the decision of the EU High
\nRepresentative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell, to appoint Romanian Dan
\nSteonescu as the head of the EU Delegation to Syria, headquartered in Beirut.
\nThe appointment comes as an official recognition at EU level of Romania’s
\nexpertise in the Middle East, as well as its diplomatic skills, Aurescu said.
\nAccording to a Foreign Ministry release, stabilizing Syria is key to the
\nsecurity of the entire region, while stepping up efforts to solve the crisis at
\npolitical level remains a priority for the EU and the international community.
\nA career diplomat with a wide experience in the Middle East, Dan Stoenescu has
\nserved as Romania’s ambassador in Tunisia since 2017. In 2015-2016 he was
\nMinister Delegate for Romanians Worldwide. He previously worked for Romania’s
\nembassies in Madrid and Beirut. Another four Romanians are currently part of
\nthe EU delegation: Oana Popa in Montenegro, Denisa Ionete in Nigeria, Traian
\nHristea in Mongolia and Cristian Tudor in Kuwait. <\/p>\n
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TENNIS -
\nRomania is playing Italy in the playoffs of World Group of the Billie Jean King
\nCup. In the women’s singles, Irina Bara is today playing Martina Trevisan,
\nwhile Mihaela
\nBuz\u0103rnescu will take on Elisabetta Cocciaretto, while in the doubles Monica
\nNiculescu and Elena-Gabriela Ruse will play Jasmine Paolini and Giulia
\nGatto-Monticone. Italy leads 2-nil after Friday’s matches, when Trevisan
\ndefeated Buz\u0103rnescu 6-2, 2-6, 7-6, while Cocciaretto defeated Bara 6-1, 6-4.
\nSimona Halep and Patricia \u0162ig couldn’t play for Romania, both injured, while Camilia Giorgi,
\nthe best-rated Italian player, tested positive for COVID-19. The team that wins
\nthe playoffs will play in the World Group qualifiers for 2022, while the other
\nteam in Group 1 in the Euro-Africa Zone. <\/p>\n
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HANDBALL – Romania are facing North
\nMacedonia on Saturday in Bucharest in the first leg of the 2021 World
\nChampionship play-offs in women’s handball. The return match is due to take
\nplace on April 21, in Skopje. Commentators say booking a place should not be a
\nproblem, given that the number of participants grew to 32. The tournament will
\nbe hosted by Spain. Europe has 50% of the available places. Romania is yet to
\nmiss a women’s World Championship, where it has won four medals over the years:
\ngold in 1962, silver in 1973 and 2005 and bronze in 2015. (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":[36138,35374,36136,31286,36137,34548,32305],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105032","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-billie-jean-king-cup","tag-covid-19","tag-financial-rating","tag-romanias-handball-team","tag-romanian-tennis-players","tag-standard-and-poors","tag-vaccination-campaign"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n