April 14, 2020 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 14.04.2020, 20:08

EXTENSION Romanian president Klaus Iohannis on Tuesday extended
the state of emergency with another 30 days due to the coronavirus pandemic.
According to him there are no signs the pandemic subsided and the danger isn’t
over yet. Schools will remain closed and prices in medicine, food and utilities
can be capped. The government will be taking all the needed measures to ensure
the citizen’s food safety. In another move the decree explicitly mentions the
management of public sanitary units can be taken over by personnel from
institutions involved in the state’s national security and defence. Under the
Constitution, the emergency state can be extended as long as it’s needed, but
only with Parliament approval, which must give a yes-vote within five days
after the decree was published in the official gazette. The Parliament
opposition has announced it will condition the Legislature vote on the
presentation by the government of a clear measure package for boosting the country’s
economy and protecting the people from the pandemic. The opposition PSD believes
Romania needs an economic plan for the coming period agreed upon by all
political forces at the same time denouncing the Executive’s lack of
communication. If Parliament doesn’t pass the lockdown extension, the president
is going to reject the initiative and the measures will not apply.

POLL More
than three quarters of Romanians believe the crisis generated by the new
coronavirus will be long and difficult, and over 50% are afraid of being
infected with the virus, according to an opinion poll by IRSOP, the Romanian
Institute for Public Opinion Polling, published on Monday. Most respondents
expect bankruptcies to rise and more and more jobs to be destroyed. 52% believe
the economy will go into recession and that the country’s financial situation
is fragile. Over 60% expect the inflation rate to rise and the national
currency to depreciate against the euro. But people are also hoping that the
challenges faced by the healthcare system and the measures taken by the authorities
will have some positive effects in the long term. Half of respondents agree
with the government’s handling of the crisis, with the other half criticising
it for its mistakes. Romanians see the European Union as a source of security.
The poll was conducted over the telephone between 6th and 11th
April using a representative sample of 768 people. The margin of error is
plus/minus 3.6%.

TOLL 6,879 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in
Romania. Over 220 people are in intensive care and 351 have died, while 1051
have recovered. Suceava, in the north-east, is the county with the highest
number of infections, followed by the capital Bucharest, Hunedoara county, in
the centre, and Timis county, in the western part of Romania. To prevent the
spread of the virus, almost 500 employees of care homes for the elderly, people
with disabilities and children will be in isolation starting on Tuesday at their
place of work or at home, as a precaution. In another development, new army
shipments of protective equipment for the medical staff will be arriving every
day in Romania this week. The first shipment arrived yesterday from South
Korea.