February 4, 2021

The latest news and main stories today.

Newsroom, 04.02.2021, 13:55

Romania pandemic. Romania saw
2,688 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, with total infections now nearing
740,000. The death toll is 18,675. More than 620,000 people have received the Covid vaccine in this country
so far. The coordinator of the mass vaccination campaign Valeriu Gheorghiță said last night
that Romania will probably use the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine only in people
under 55, something seen in other European countries as well. An official
decision in this respect will be taken this week after talks with experts,
given that this month Romania is to receive a delivery of 800,000 doses of
Oxford-Astra Zeneca vaccine. Gheorghiță also announced the opening of a further
180 vaccination centres from 15th February.

World Cancer Day. The Covid-19 pandemic has had
a catastrophic impact on cancer care, Hans Kluge, the World Health
Organisation’s regional director for Europe said in a statement on World Cancer
Day. One in three countries in the 53 members of the World Health Organisation
in the European Region (including a few from Central Asia) disrupted cancer
services fully or partially because of the pandemic and travel restrictions.
Some countries were faced with a shortage of cancer medication and many have
seen a significant drop in number of cancers diagnosed, even in the richest
nations, Kluge also said. Cancer, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases are
responsible for more than 80% of deaths in the European Region.

Schools. Pupils and teachers will wear face
masks, pupils will maintain a distance of 1 metre within each other in class
and access of visitors banned – are some of the measures proposed by the
education ministry for the reopening of schools as of 8th February. The
proposals were discussed today with school inspectors from around the country
and is next to be approved by the health ministry. The education and health
ministries are expected to publish a joint order on the sanitary norms for the
reopening of schools beginning in the second semester. Next Monday, 2.4 out of
3 million pupils will return to school for in-person learning.

Restrictions. The government
is working on legislation to allow for the temporary suspension of the activity
of firms that do not comply with the norms to prevent and combat the spread of
Covid-19. Prime minister Florin Cîţu said the measure is needed because there
are many firms that do not respect the restrictions in place during the state of
alert. He said fines will not go up because it has been found that they are not
effective.

Travel. Following talks on
Wednesday night between the Romanian and Mexican foreign ministers, the Mexican
authorities have remedied the situation of the Romanian citizens blocked on
Cancun airport. According to a statement from the Romanian foreign ministry,
Mexican foreign minister Marcelo
Ebrard Casaubó conveyed his counterpart Bogdan Aurescu his government’s regrets
for the negative impact caused by the actions of the Mexican authorities. All
Romanian nationals have now been allowed access to Mexican territory with the
exception of five persons who were bared from entering the country and will
return to Romania. The Mexican authorities admitted that any possible security
red flags that may affect the right of foreign citizens to enter Mexico must be
based on individual, non-discriminatory assessments. 114 Romanian tourists were
reportedly held by the Mexican authorities on Cancun airport, without any
explanation. The Romanian foreign ministry has repeated its advise for Romanian
citizens to show prudence when deciding to travel for tourist purposes,
especially to destinations affected by the Covid pandemic.

Defence. The charge d’affaires of the US embassy
in Bucharest David Muniz and the commander of the 31st Fighter Wing
at Aviano Jason E. Bailey are today visiting an air base in Câmpia Turzii, in north-western Romania.
According to a Romanian defence ministry statement, talks will be looking at
issues of mutual interest related to the contribution and role of the Romanian
and American air forces as part of NATO efforts of reassurance on its eastern
flank and bilateral cooperation within the Romania-US strategic partnership. A
detachment of MQ-9 Reaper aircraft and some 90 US air force personnel have been
deployed to Câmpia Turzii for the next three months. They will carry out
intelligence, surveillance and research missions in support of NATO operations,
while the Romanian air forces will provide, through the air base in Câmpia
Turzii, the necessary technical, operational and logistical support. (CM)