COVID-19 New restrictions take effect on Monday in Romania, as the country is
\nstruggling with an unprecedented epidemiological crisis. For 30 days, the
\ndigital COVID certificate will be compulsory in most public places, except for
\nfood shops and drugstores, face covering will be compulsory in all indoor and
\noutdoor public areas, and a ban on outdoor concerts and shows, as well as on
\nprivate events, including weddings, conferences and workshops, will be in place.
\nAlso on Monday, public and private kindergartens,
\nprimary, secondary schools and high schools will take a 2-week break.
\nAfter-schools will also be closed, although nurseries will stay open. Companies
\nwith more than 50 employees will organise shifts or remote work, sports
\ncompetitions will be held without public in attendance, and a night curfew will also be introduced, between 10 pm and 5 am, for
\nthe unvaccinated. On Saturday the authorities reported 15,261
\nnew SARS-CoV-2 cases and 446 COVID-related deaths.<\/p>\n
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VACCINE Following repeated appeals from physicians, for fear of getting
\ninfected or simply because they no longer have access to various activities
\nwithout the digital COVID certificate, many Romanians previously reluctant to
\nthe vaccine seem to have changed their minds. According to the latest official
\nfigures, over 128,000 people got the vaccine in the last 24 hours, most of them
\n(over 86,000) with the first vaccine dose. This weekend the capital Bucharest
\nis hosting a vaccination marathon. The National Defence Minister will also
\norganize on Monday and Tuesday, a vaccination marathon in 6 military hospitals
\nin the country. President Klaus Iohannis Saturday once again called on people
\nto get the vaccine, saying this is the only way to curb the Covid-19 pandemic. Since
\nthe start of the vaccination programme in late December, more than 6.2 million
\nRomanians have received COVID-19 vaccines, and more than 5.8 million of them
\nare fully vaccinated.<\/p>\n
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GOVERNMENT In Romania, prime
\nminister designate Nicolae Ciuc\u0103, a retired general, carries on negotiations
\nover parliamentary support for his new cabinet. The Liberal leader Florin C\u00ee\u0163u
\nalso took part in Friday’s talks with the Democratic Union of Ethnic Hungarians
\nin Romania, the Liberals’ partners in the ruling coalition. C\u00ee\u0163u said that
\nearly next week the governing programme and distribution of cabinet seats would
\nbe submitted to Parliament. He added that in order to secure parliamentary support,
\nthe Liberals would discuss with Save Romania Union as well, although the latter
\noriginally announced they would not back a minority government. On the other
\nhand, the Social Democrats, the main party in opposition, were not contacted
\nfor talks. Unhappy with a possible cooperation with the Social Democrats, many
\nLiberals will leave the party and will start a new one jointly with the former
\nparty leader Ludovic Orban, said an ex-government spokesman, Ionel Danc\u0103. Orban’s supporters have already called on president
\nKlaus Iohannis and on Florin C\u00ee\u0163u not to accept the support of the Social
\nDemocratic Party. Romania has been faced with a governmental crisis since
\nSeptember, when Save Romania Union left the ruling coalition over disagreements
\nwith PM Florin C\u00ee\u0163u. C\u00ee\u0163u’s
\ncabinet was dismissed following a no-confidence motion initiated by the Social
\nDemocrats and backed by Save Romania Union. The first politician designated by
\npresident Klaus Iohannis to form a new government, Save Romania Union leader
\nDacian Ciolo\u015f, failed to get endorsed by Parliament.<\/p>\n
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MOLDOVA The PM of the Republic of Moldova, Natalia Gavrili\u0163\u0103, announced the
\nrationalisation of natural gas and other resources during the one-month state
\nof emergency declared by Parliament on Friday. She said the government was
\nlooking for alternative gas sources, due to the lack of a new contract with
\nRussia, which has cut supplies by one-third and raised prices to an unacceptable
\nlevel. Russian-Moldovan talks in Moscow ended after 2 days without an
\nagreement, and Moldova might see Russian gas supply completely suspended as of
\nNovember. <\/p>\n
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\nTENNIS Raluca Olaru (Romania) \/ Nadia Kicenok (Ukraine) are
\ntoday playing the final of the tennis tournament in Moscow (WTA 500), against 2nd
\nseeded Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) \/ Katerina Siniakova (the Czech Republic). On
\nFriday, Raluca Olaru and Nadia Kicenok defeated the Russians Natela Dzalamidze \/
\nKamila Rahimova 7-5, 7-5. This is the 24th WTA doubles final for
\nRaluca Olaru, who has won 11 titles so far. Olaru and Kicenok this year won the
\ntournaments in Sankt Petersburg and Chicago, and lost the final in Bad Homburg. (tr. A.M. Popescu)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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