PANDEMIC Several
\nEuropean countries are bracing themselves for what could be a new wave of the
\nCovid-19 pandemic. In France, Britain, Italy and Austria the number of
\ninfections has doubled since last week. The new surge of Covid-19 infections is
\ndue to the Omicron sub-variant BA2, which is more infectious than BA1.
\nAccording to WHO, although more transmissible, BA2 isn’t more dangerous than
\nthe first sub-variant. Many countries have eased restrictions as research shows
\nthat Omicron-infected patients are 59% less likely to need hospital care than those
\ninfected with Delta and this sub-variant is 69% less likely to cause death. The
\nnumber of infections has been on the rise in South Korea, Vietnam and China;
\nthe latter has announced its first two Covid-related fatalities while the
\ncountry is presently grappling with its worst spate of infections since the
\ncoronavirus first emerged more than two years ago in its central regions. <\/p>\n
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ENERGY Electricity and gas prices will be capped for a year
\nstarting April, under a new emergency ordinance the government in Bucharest
\npassed on Friday. So, household consumers who do not exceed 100 kilowatts per
\nmonth will be paying 0.68 lei per kilowatt, VAT included. For a consumption
\nunder 300 kilowatts, the fee will be 0.80 lei per kilowatt at the most. Under
\nthe new law, non-household consumers will be charged up to one Leu per
\nkilowatt, Romania’s Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca says adding that the prices
\nfor gas will be around 0.31 lei for household consumers and no more than 0.37
\nlei per kilowatt for non-household consumers. The measures are meant to offer
\nstability to both the citizens and the business environment, at the same time
\nbeing in accordance with the free market rules. The new measures will be
\napplied from April 1st this year until March 31st 2023.
\nCompanies that fail to comply with the aforementioned rules are subject to
\nfines and the impact of the new measures has been estimated at 2.9 billion
\nEuros by the end of the year. <\/p>\n
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COVID-19 3,160 new Covid-19 infections were reported in Romania on Saturday.
\n44 related fatalities were also reported and the number of those hospitalized
\nhas reached 3,120 out of whom 465 in ICUs. The number of infections has been on
\nthe rise since Romania gave up all the prevention measures on March 9th.
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RUGBY Romania’s national fifteen on Saturday secured a 38-12 win
\nagainst the Netherlands in Amsterdam in the last leg of Rugby Europe
\nChampionship 2022 and will further play in the qualifiers for World Cup 2023 in
\nFrance. <\/p>\n
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UKRAINE Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on
\nSaturday made an appeal to Moscow to resume talks on peace and security in the
\nregion, because otherwise the consequences for Russia are to be felt by several
\ngenerations, France press reports. Several rounds of peace talks have been
\nstaged since Russia commenced its onslaught on the neighboring Ukraine on
\nFebruary 24th. In another move, Zelensky announced the Ukrainians
\nwho got relocated because of the war were going to get assistance. He explained
\nthe ministers of the Ukrainian government are working on a programme of
\nproviding support to those who had to abandon their homes or flee the war. The
\nRussian army carried on its operations in the regions of Luhansk in the east of
\nUkraine, where many people were killed and houses destroyed. Russian war planes
\non Friday destroyed 69 military targets in Ukraine including three S-300
\nanti-aircraft defence units, the Russian Defence Ministry has announced.
\nAccording to the US Department of Defence, since the beginning of the invasion,
\nRussia has launched over 1,080 missiles against Ukraine. 3.2 million Ukrainians
\nhave left the country, two thirds of them arriving in Poland, which is just a
\nstopover during their exile. <\/p>\n
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REFUGEES Six working groups will be set up at government level
\nin Bucharest for a better handling of the situation of the Ukrainian refugees
\nwho may choose to stay in Romania. Four of these are dealing with issues
\nrelated to health, education, access to the labour market and accommodation.
\nThe other two will deal with those vulnerable, children and young people. The total
\nnumber of Ukrainian refugees who have made it to Romania in the past three
\nweeks since the beginning of the conflict has almost reached half a million. However,
\nvery few of them applied for asylum and only about 80 thousand have chosen to
\nremain in Romania. According to official data, 32 thousand of them are minors
\nand accommodation facilities have been occupied 70%. Authorities and civil
\nsociety are making efforts to provide proper accommodation conditions, food,
\nmedical assistance and education for their children. A lot of companies have
\ncome up with job offers for the refugees. The European Commission has decided
\nto earmark special funds to Romania in an attempt to enable the country to cope
\nwith the large number of refugees. <\/p>\n
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(bill)<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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