October 23, 2020

A roundup of some of the main stories in Romania today.

Newsroom, 23.10.2020, 13:55

Coronavirus
Romania. More than 5,000 new coronavirus cases were reported on Friday in
Romania. Total infections have passed 200,000, and the death toll has reached
6,2450. The doctors treating coronavirus patients say people make mistakes that
lead to infection, one of which is that they forget to wear face masks or don’t
wear them correctly. Six out of ten Romanians say they would get a vaccine if
one was available, according to a recent poll conducted in several countries
around the world between June and September. 66% of young people aged between 16
and 24 and 66% of people above the age of 55 are pro-vaccination, compared with
51% among people aged between 25 and 55. The poll shows Romania has one of the
lowest levels of vaccination intent, alongside Hungary and Poland, with 54%. At
the opposite pole, the highest vaccination intent is in China, Brazil and
India.

Coronavirus world. Global coronavirus cases are nearing 42 million,
while the number of fatalities has passed 1.14 million, according to Worldometers.info. Europe is seeing a large
number of infections in the second wave. Spain has passed 1 million cases.
Ireland has seen over 2,000 daily cases and its government has imposed strict
measures. The UK has also reported its highest number of daily cases, 27,000.
Germany has also seen a record number of new 11,000 infections. Belgium and Czech
Republic have the highest number of infections per number of inhabitants.
Beginning on Saturday, Greece will impose travel restrictions in Athens, Thessaloniki
and other badly hit areas. France has extended its night curfew imposed in the
main cities to most of the country, beginning on Saturday.

Support.
The government on Thursday adopted a number of measures to support the
population during the pandemic. They include increasing treatment capacity for
Covid patients in intensive care units and supplementing medical staff. The
government also decided that the asymptomatic and mild cases will be monitored
and receive medical assistance from family doctors. As for economic measures,
minister Florin Cîțu mentioned extending deadlines for the reimbursement of VAT
and the re-scheduling of debts.

Elections. Thursday was the last day for the
submission of the candidate lists for the parliamentary elections of 6th
December. Thursday was also the last day when Romanian citizens domiciled or
residing abroad could register to vote by mail. 39,240 such applications were
recorded. Abroad, the voting process will be taking place over the course of
two days, on the 5th and 6th of December.

Debate. The Republican incumbent Donald Trump
and his Democratic challenger Joe Biden faced off on Thursday in Nashville,
Tennessee, in their second and final debate ahead of the presidential elections
of 3rd November. The debate was significantly different in tone and
atmosphere compared to the first one held in September, which was marked by an
exchange of insults and repeated interruptions. This time around, Trump and
Biden sparred on a number of issues, including the situation of undocumented
migrants, the coronavirus pandemic, public healthcare, the economy and foreign
policy. According to opinion polls, American voters are most concerned at the
moment about the coronavirus pandemic. During the debate, Joe Biden accused
Trump of mismanaging the crisis, while the latter insisted the country has gone
past the critical point. The also accused each other of profiting from doing
business with foreign adversaries.

Imports.
Romania has this year imported 38% more laptops compared with the same period
last year, the biggest increase among EU member states, according to data
published by Eurostat today. Only Denmark saw a similar figure, with 35%.
According to Eurostat, most European imports of laptops come from China, with
purchases nearing 14 and a half billion euros in the last two years.

Winter time. On Saturday
night, Romania will be switching to winter time, with 4 am becoming 3 am. In
recent years, Europe has started to discuss about giving up on the time shift,
which also has some unpleasant effects, because it implies a change in the
daily routine with effects on some people’s health. Despite the fact that the
European Parliament voted to scrap the seasonal time switch, this will only
become definitive in 2021. Member states will be able to choose whether to
remain on permanent winter time or summer time.

Football.
The Romanian football champions CFR Cluj on Thursday night defeated the
Bulgarian side TSKA Sofia 2-nil in their opening Europa League Group A match.
In the same group, the Italian side AS Rome defeated the Swiss side BSC Young
Boys 2-1. Next week, AS Rome will be playing TSKA Sofia and CFR will be playing
BSC Young Boys. Eliminated from the Champions League in the preliminary
matches, CFR are the only Romanian side in the European competitions this year.