COVID-19 – Saturday was the fourth consecutive day when Romania
\nreported over 30,000 daily Covid infections. Romania on Wednesday reported a
\nrecord-high number of new infections since the start of the pandemic – 34,255.
\nIn Bucharest, the incidence rate has exceeded 16 per thousand inhabitants. The
\nrate has increased steadily since January 1, when it stood at 0.72. Health Minister, Alexandru Rafila, said the
\nnumber of daily infections is expected to exceed 40 thousand next week, and
\nthat the pandemic will start to slow down in approximately 10 days. Against the
\nbackdrop of the growing infection rate and the swift spread of the Omicron
\nstrain, the Romanian authorities are looking for ways to facilitate access to
\ntesting and treatment, in order to relieve the burden on hospitals and
\nambulance services. People can get a rapid test for Covid free of charge in
\nover 4,000 family physician practices across the country, or by paying a small
\nfee in some 138 drug stores. At national level, the Covid bed occupation rate
\nstands at some 30%, although there are significant differences between
\ncounties. Some 8 million people have completed the full anti-Covid vaccination
\nscheme. <\/p>\n
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JETS – The German Air Forces will deploy three Eurofighter jets to
\nRomania in February and March, in the context of NATO consolidating its
\nmilitary presence in Eastern Europe, amidst growing tensions on the Ukrainian
\nborder. The jets will be integrated in the Italian squadron that was deployed
\nto Romania last month. The Italian unit comprises 140 military, including
\npilots and technical staff, operating four Eurofighter Typhoon jets and
\ncarrying out air policing missions. On the other hand, Washington will soon be
\ndeploying troops to Eastern Europe, US president Joe Biden has announced. The
\nUnited States has already put 8,500 troops on high alert in order to supplement
\nNATO’s rapid response force in case of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. President
\nBiden said, however, that no American troops will be dispatched to Ukraine,
\nwhich is not a member of NATO. In turn, France’s Defense Minister, Florence
\nParly, told France Inter that Paris is willing to send hundreds of troops to
\nRomania, a NATO member and a neighbor of Ukraine. France is also ready to take
\nresponsibility for building an international defense force to defend Romania,
\nin the event such a decision is taken at NATO level. <\/p>\n
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ARREST – Romanian businessman Ioan Neculaie, who was handed a final
\ntwo-and-a-half-year prison sentence for weapons and munitions crimes, has been
\napprehended in Greece, according to the Romanian Police Inspectorate. An arrest
\nwarned was issued in the name of the former owner of FC Bra\u0219ov football club
\nlast week when he didn’t show up to carry out his sentence. Neculaie has been
\npreviously sentenced for similar crimes as well as for manslaughter, and was
\nreleased on parole in 2018. <\/p>\n
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UKRAINE – The European Union has condemned Russia’s decision to ban
\nthe entry to Russia of several European officials, a decision that continues to
\ndeepen the crisis in Ukraine. The Russian diplomacy on Friday announced that
\nthe heads of several European private military companies, members of security
\nagencies and certain MEPs and other European officials will be henceforth
\nbanned from entering Russia. According to the Russian Ministry for Foreign
\nAffairs, these people are personally responsible for promoting anti-Russian
\npolicies. In response, Brussels says this decision lacks any legal
\njustification and transparency, and is bound to generate an adequate response.
\nIn other new, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, had a telephone conversation
\nwith his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. According to the French
\npresidency, Putin made no mention of any aggressive intensions and specifically
\npointed out he seeks no armed confrontation with Ukraine. Additionally, the
\nKremlin leader insisted on resuming Russian-Ukrainian negotiations, moderated
\nby France and Germany in the so-called Normandy format. In turn, Ukraine’s
\npresident, Volodymyr Zelensky, urged Western leaders not to spread panic
\nregarding tensions with Russia, considering that diplomatic efforts have
\nintensified with a view to solving this crisis. <\/p>\n
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HANDBALL – The Romanian men’s handball
\nteam will play North Macedonia in the first round of the 2023 World Cup
\nplayoffs following Saturday’s draw hosted by Budapest. If it wins, Romania will
\nnext play the Czech Republic in the second round in April. In other news, Romanian
\nhandball club CS M\u0103gura Cisn\u0103die on
\nSaturday defeated HC Lada Togliatti of Russia, scored 27-24 on home turf, in an
\nEHF European League match. Ranking first in Group C is Herning-Ikast Handbold
\nof Denmark with 4 points in two matches, followed by CS M\u0103gura Cisn\u0103die with 4
\npoints in 3 matches. The top two teams will advance to the quarterfinals. In
\nthe next group fixture, CS M\u0103gura Cisn\u0103die will take on Lada Togliatti away
\nfrom home on February 6. (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":[35374,36513,36535,36533,29572,32305],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-105662","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsflash","tag-covid-19","tag-crisis-in-ukraine","tag-eurofighter-jets","tag-free-testing","tag-handball","tag-vaccination-campaign"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n