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COVID-19 ROMANIA – One year since the administration of the first COVID
\nvaccine dose in Romania, the country ranks last but one at EU level in terms of
\nthe vaccination rate, with almost 7.8 million Romanians being fully vaccinated,
\naccounting for just over 40 % of the total population. The data also show that
\nalmost 2 million Romanians have so far taken the booster. Some 40% of the total
\npopulation have completed the full vaccination scheme. The situation reveals a
\nrather low interest in vaccination, except for short periods of enthusiasm or
\nfears caused by successive waves of the pandemic. A total of 566 new cases of
\nSARS-CoV-2 infection have been reported in the last 24 hours and 24 related
\ndeaths, the Strategic Communication Group reported on Monday. About 450
\npatients are in ICUs, over 90% of them being unvaccinated. 38 cases of the
\nOmicron strain have been confirmed in Romania.<\/p>\n
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COVID-19 WORLD – This year’s Christmas was also strongly affected by
\nthe pandemic, and the situation remains dramatic in Europe. The highest
\ninfection rate is reported in the United Kingdom, where new restrictions have
\ntaken effected starting Monday, with the exception of England. Over 122
\nthousand infections were reported on Christmas Eve, against the backdrop of the
\nspread of the Omicron strain. France too has exceeded the number of 100
\nthousand daily infections. In Italy, the number of daily infections has doubled
\ncompared to last week. Starting January 10, Italy will start administering the anti-COVID
\nbooster, after four months since completing the vaccination scheme consisting
\nof two shots, two months earlier than the reference period. The measure was
\ntaken in an attempt to limit the spread of the Omicron strain. Starting
\nFebruary, the green certificate will only be available for six months after
\nreceiving the two shots. <\/p>\n
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NATO – NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has decided to convene on
\nJanuary 12 a NATO-Russia Council – a co-operation body set up in 2002, now
\nsuspended due to the conflict in Ukraine – and he is in contact with Moscow on
\nthe matter, an Alliance official in Brussels announced. On Thursday, Jens
\nStoltenberg reaffirmed his support for Ukraine and his determination to protect
\nall NATO allies against Russia’s actions, adding that he was always open to
\ndialogue with Moscow. Russia and the West accuse each other of challenging
\nactions by strengthening military capabilities at common borders. Russia wants
\na firm guarantee that NATO will not accept Ukraine as a member, a request that
\nNATO rejected in the past, as well as to limit Western military cooperation in
\nEastern Europe and the former USSR member states. President Vladimir Putin did
\nnot say how Russia would react if its demands were not met, stressing that the
\nanswer depended on the proposals the military experts present him with. The EU,
\nthe US and NATO have warned Moscow that there will be serious consequences in
\ncase of a military escalation.<\/p>\n
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STATISTICS – Romanian households remained on first place in the
\nEU in 2020 in terms of the share of food and non-alcoholic beverage spending
\nout of the total consumption expenses, show data released by Eurostat on
\nMonday. While in the EU the average is 14.8%, Romanian households last year
\nallocated 26.4% of total consumption expenditure on food and non-alcoholic
\nbeverages. On the other hand, Romania is better than most member states when it
\ncomes to the share of expenses on housing, water, electricity, gas and other
\nfuels out of the total household consumption expenditure. At EU level, these
\nexpenditures accounted for more than a quarter (25.7%) of the total consumption
\nexpenditure in 2020, while in Romania the percentage was 18.8%. According to
\nEurostat, these increases are a consequence of the quarantines and mobility
\nrestrictions that have been imposed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
\n(LS & VP)<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A roundup of domestic and international news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":113,"featured_media":105208,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105594","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n