9 April 2020, UPDATE

A roundup of the main stories in Romania today.

Newsroom, 09.04.2020, 20:20

Romania toll. 441 new coronavirus cases
were reported in Romania on Thursday, with the total number passing 5,200. 647
people have recovered and 248 have died. Two Romanians who returned from Italy
in March are reported to have contracted the virus a second time, ten days
after being released from hospital. 679 Romanians living abroad, most of them
in Italy, have been infected and 38 have died.

Coronavirus world. More than 1.5 million
coronavirus cases have been reported around the world, while the death toll is
close to 89,000. The European Commission has proposed a ban on all
non-essential travel to the EU until May 15th, thus extending
current restrictions. According to the Commission, the measures taken to
prevent the spread of the virus must be enforced for over 30 days in order to
work. Also, the Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has called on member
states to eliminate bans on medicine exports to prevent shortages within the EU
bloc. The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control warns Europe is
yet to reach the peak of the pandemic.

Economy. The Romanian government
expects the economy to shrink by 1 to 3% due the crisis caused by the new
coronavirus, but an exact figure will be calculated after April 15th,
prime minister Ludovic Orban told a television channel. He explained that 30%
of the country’s economy has already been affected and budget revenues have
been severely diminished. Orban said it is not yet known how the other EU economies
will react, with many Romanian businesses depending on those in the EU. In
another development, the World Bank has revised Romania’s economic growth rate
for this year down to 0.3% from 3.8% three months ago, but estimates a recovery
to up to 4.4% next year.

Workers. Several
planes carrying east-European seasonal workers landed on Thursday on the
airports in Berlin, Hamburg and Dusseldorf, despite the restrictions aimed at
preventing the spread of the coronavirus. German farmers said they were
relieved to be able to bring in workers to take care of seasonal crops such as white
asparagus, which is a delicatessen. The workers had to undergo a medical
check-up at the airport before starting working on the farms, where they are in
effect in isolation. Romanian workers are among them, and they departed from
the airport in Cluj, in the centre. More than 1,500 people gathered in the
airport’s parking lot without respecting social distancing rules and without
wearing protective gear. Prime minister Ludovic Orban has ordered an inquiry.

Reimbursement. Airlines must refund
the flights cancelled because of the coronavirus outbreak, said the European
commissioner for transport Adina Valean, quoted by Reuters. Valean, who was
Romania’s pick for the job, rejected calls from airlines to relax European rules
in the field. She explained that changing these rules would require wider
support from EU institutions. Airlines are seeking government support, saying
reimbursing hundreds of thousands of tickets would lead them to bankruptcy. In
Romania, transport minister Lucian Bode said Bucharest is having talks with the
European Union with a view to obtaining financial support of around 130 million
euros for the Romanian airlines TAROM and Blue Air, who have been seriously hit
by the crisis caused by the pandemic.

Environment. The environment
ministry in Bucharest is launching a multi-annual street lighting programme
aimed at reducing electricity consumption by 40% in every town and village in
Romania. The budget for this year is around 80 million euros. Local authorities
will be able to replace high energy consuming lights with LED lights and
purchase flow-based systems. Street lighting currently accounts for over 20% of
the total electricity consumption in Romania. (Tr.: CM)