CHRISTMAS For Orthodox, Greek and Roman Catholic Christians around the world,
\nSaturday is Christmas, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, one of the
\nbiggest holiday for the Christian world. On Christmas Eve, a common tradition in Romania
\nis caroling, a ritual that includes ceremonial texts, dancing and singing.
\nCarolers, especially children and youth, convey good wishes and are rewarded by
\nhosts with fruit, pretzels, sweets or money. Priests go from house to
\nhouse anouncing the birth of Christ. Christmas calls on all of us to be generous, like the shepherds who
\nadored Christ, to give humble love to all around us, to give presents to children
\nas well as to the elderly, to the poor, to the lonely, to the mourning and to
\nthe suffering, said Daniel, the Patriarch of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Christmas
\nis marked by special services in churches and monasteries, and family
\ngatherings and traditions.Old Style Orthodox believers in Russia, Ukraine, Serbia,
\nand Georgia celebrate Christmas on 7th January.<\/p>\n
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COVID-19 The fifth wave of the pandemic, which is more
\nsevere than the previous one, is expected to hit in Romania in less than three
\nweeks, the country’s Interior Minister Lucian Bode has announced. The spread of
\nthe Omicron variant will be accelerated by the presence of Romanian workers
\nfrom abroad, who are arriving in large numbers for the winter holidays. The
\nnumber of new infections is still low in Romania, with 717 new cases
\nannounced on Friday. 44 related fatalities were also announced. Since the
\nbeginning of the pandemic, 1.8 million Covid infections have been reported in
\nRomania and 58,000 related fatalities. Shortly after the authorisation of the
\nanti-Covid drug, Paxlovid, in the USA, Romania’s health minister, Alexandru
\nRafila is making moves to import the new drug as soon as possible. Rafila has
\nalready had a series of meetings with representatives of Pfizer, the company
\nthat produces the vaccine. According to the latest surveys, the drug reduces the
\nrisk of hospitalization and death by almost 90%. The US has also authorised an
\nanti-viral pill produced by Merck.<\/p>\n
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LIST The National Committee for Emergency Situations
\nhas updated the list of the countries with a high infection risk. Malta entered
\nthe red tier due to its high infection rate, whereas Romania’s neighbour, the
\nex-soviet Republic of Moldova is now a green-list country. The committee has
\nalso approved the categories of employees who are exempted from quarantine
\nrules, including the crews of ships sailing under Romanian flag, as well as
\ndrivers of freighters up to 2.4 tons and of passenger buses over 9 seats coming
\nfrom the EU or the EU economic area.<\/p>\n
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POLICE Over 8,000 policemen are on duty during the
\nChristmas period in Romania, to discourage and prevent crime. Policemen will be
\npatrolling together with gendarme troops and in some cases they will be
\naccompanied by representatives of the Food Safety Authority to various shopping
\nareas to check the observance of the Covid-19 safety rules. Road police will be
\nassisted by helicopters to monitor the traffic and prevent any wrongdoing on
\nRomania’s motorways. (tr. A.M. Popescu)<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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