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 An
\nefficiency survey on COVID-19 vaccination in Romania indicates that
\nimmunisation has reduced contamination risks 5 times,
\nhospitalisation risks 10 times, intensive care admission risks nearly 14 times
\nand COVID-related death risks over 20 times. The data analysed included over 2.7 million
\ntests (both positive and negative), collected from over 1.7 million people aged
\nover 16 and vaccinated. The survey was run in February – May, when the Alpha
\nvariant of the virus was prevailing in Romania. Following repeated appeals from
\nphysicians, for fear of getting infected or simply because they no longer have
\naccess to various activities without the digital COVID certificate, many
\nRomanians previously reluctant to the vaccine seem to have changed their minds.
\nAccording to the latest official figures, over 127,000 people got vaccinated in
\nthe last 24 hours, most of them (over 91,000) with the first dose. This weekend
\nthe capital Bucharest is hosting a vaccination marathon. Since the start of the
\nvaccination programme in late December, more than 6.3 million Romanians have
\nreceived COVID-19 vaccines, and nearly 5.9 million of them are fully vaccinated.<\/p>\n
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GOVERNMENT In Romania, prime
\nminister designate Nicolae Ciuc\u0103, a retired general, carried on negotiations
\nover parliamentary support for his new cabinet. The Democratic Union of Ethnic
\nHungarians in Romania will be the Liberals’ partners in the ruling coalition. The
\nhead of the Social Democratic Party in opposition, Marcel Ciolacu, Saturday had
\na telephone conversation with the prime minister designate, requesting him to
\ncome up with a clear, short-term action plan on handling the pandemic and to
\ninclude in his governing programme 10 urgent measures suggested by the Social
\nDemocrats in the healthcare, economic and social areas. A new discussion will
\nbe held next week. Unhappy with a possible cooperation with the Social
\nDemocrats, many Liberals will leave the party and will start a new one jointly
\nwith the former party leader Ludovic Orban, said an ex-government spokesman, Ionel Danc\u0103. 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 and backed a
\nno-confidence motion initiated by the Social Democrats against the C\u00ee\u0163u
\ngovernment. The first politician designated by president Klaus Iohannis to form
\na new government, Save Romania Union leader Dacian Ciolo\u015f, failed to get
\nendorsed 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) Saturday
\nlost the final of the tennis tournament in Moscow (WTA 500), to 2nd
\nseeded Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) \/ Katerina Siniakova (the Czech Republic) 6-3,
\n4-6, 10-8. This was the 24th
\nWTA doubles final for Raluca Olaru, who has won 11 titles so far. Olaru and
\nKicenok this year won the tournaments in Sankt Petersburg and Chicago, and lost
\nthe final in Bad Homburg. (tr. A.M. Popescu)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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