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COVID-19 ROMANIA – A little over 14 thousand new cases of
\nCOVID-19 infection were reported on Sunday in Romania, in addition to 22
\nrelated fatalities. Compared to previous waves, the rate of hospitalization of
\npeople who got infected is much lower, authorities say. Some 600 people are
\ncurrently in intensive care. The authorities expect the infection rate to
\ncontinue to rise in following days, which will in turn determine a rise in the
\nrate of bed occupation across hospitals. In the worst-case scenario, Romania
\ncould report as many as 70 thousand daily infections in February. At present,
\nthe incidence rate in Bucharest has reached 9.50 per thousand inhabitants.
\nStarting Sunday, people from Bucharest and Ilfov can test for COVID-19 in 20
\nmedical units, with an additional 8 expected to open next week. The measure
\nfollows an announcement made by the Ambulance Service, who said the number of
\npeople calling for COVID testing has increased alarmingly, causing delays of up
\nto 72 hours in the arrival of testing teams. Over 8 million Romanians have so
\nfar received at least one shot of the anti-COVID vaccine. <\/p>\n
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COVID-19 WORLD – The United
\nStates, the largest donor to the World Health Organization, continues to oppose
\nproposals for a larger independence of the WHO, officials involved in
\nnegotiations have announced. The proposal stipulates an increase in the annual
\nfinancial contribution of each member state as part of a broader plan to reform
\nthe Organization in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The US Government opposes
\nthe reform because it doubts the WHO will have the capacity to face future
\nthreats, including from China. In other news, the Omicron variant has become
\ndominant in Europe, without however provoking an increase in the number of ICU
\nhospitalizations. On Saturday, Poland announced a record-high number of
\ninfections, nearly 41 thousand. Russia too announced 57 thousand infections,
\nthe highest since the pandemic began. Italy reported 171 thousand new cases. In
\nturn, the United Kingdom also reported 76 thousand infections in a single day,
\nwhich confirms the downward trend of the incidence rate in this country. <\/p>\n
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UNION – Romania will mark 163
\nyears since the Union of the Romanian Principalities on Monday by means of
\nvarious events. On January 24, 1859, Alexandru Ioan Cuza was proclaimed ruler
\nof the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, voted by the Elective Assembly
\nin Bucharest. Cuza’s rule (1859-1866) laid the foundations of modern Romania
\nthrough radical reforms. Cuza adopted the Civil and Criminal Codes and created
\na national army. It also introduced mandatory primary education and founded the
\nfirst universities. Cuza was forced to step down and go into exile in 1866. His
\nsuccessor was King Charles I of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. His
\nlong rule wound earn Romania its independence from the Ottoman Empire. In 1918,
\nKing Ferdinand the Unifier completed the nation-building process by uniting the
\nterritories with a Romanian majority population in 1918. <\/p>\n
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STRIKE – The strike at the
\nBucharest Municipal Transport Company (STB) continued on Sunday for the fourth
\nconsecutive day, despite having been declared illegal under a court order. The
\nCompany operated at 25% capacity, although hundreds of drivers refused to do
\ntheir daily rounds. The STB board decided not to take disciplinary action
\nagainst those who wanted to resume work, considering no offenses have been
\nreported so far. Bucharest Mayor, Nicu\u0219or Dan, announced numerous STB employees
\nlodged complaints on the dedicated hotline, claiming they are intimidated,
\nthreatened and aggressed by trade unions if they choose to return to work. STB
\nemployees say their salary demands have not been solved and call for the
\nresignation of the company’s director. Representatives of the transporters
\ntrade union have repeatedly claimed this was an independent protest of STB
\nemployees and that it played no part in its organization. (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":[35374,36523,36524,35334],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-covid-19","tag-stb-strike","tag-union-of-the-romanian-principalities","tag-who"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n