April 3, 2021

A roundup of local and international news.

Newsroom, 03.04.2021, 13:45

Vaccination. The mass vaccination
campaign is progressing in Romania at a daily rate of 50,000 shots on average.
So far, over 2 million people have been given the vaccine, half of whom have
also received the second dose. Prime minister Florin
Cîţu said Romania is undergoing a selection process at European level to
produce Covid vaccines, with one Romanian company to be assessed by the
operative group of the European Commission for the vaccine development stage.
Romania is represented by 9 companies and two institutes in the European
Commission’s working group to boost production of Covid vaccines. In another
development, Romania has updated its list of high-risk countries, with
travellers from these countries to go into isolation on arrival in this country
for two weeks. The list includes countries such as Bulgaria, Italy, France,
Hungary, the Czech Republic, Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, Turkey, the
Republic of Moldova and Poland, as well as Brazil and South Africa, where two
more contagious variants of the virus were identified.

Coronavirus Romania. Almost 5,500 new
coronavirus cases were reported on Saturday in Romania, most of them in
Bucharest, as well as 154 new related fatalities. Almost 1,500 Covid patients
are in intensive care, with ICU admissions on the rise in recent days. Almost 1
million people have had the virus in Romania and almost 24,000 have died.
Bucharest has an incidence rate of a little over 7 cases in 1,000 people
tested, but the surrounding Ilfov county has the highest infection rate in
Romania with 9.25 cases in 1,000 residents. In areas with an incidence rate of
over 4, movement outside the home is allowed at the weekend only until 8 pm,
unlike 10 pm during weekdays, and shops close at 6 pm. These measures are
reviewed when the incidence rate hits 7.5.

Coronavirus world. Almost one in seven people who
tested positive for Covid in the UK have continued to show symptoms of the
so-called long Covid, such as tiredness and muscle pain, three months after
contamination, according to UK’s Office for National Statistics. This was found
to be affecting women more, namely 14.7% compared with 12.7% in men. Self-reported long Covid was more prevalent
in people aged 35 to 69 years, women, health and social care workers, those
living in deprived areas and those with a pre-existing health condition. The
World Health Organisation in the meantime is criticising the slow pace of
vaccination in Europe, where new cases have grown significantly in the last
five weeks. Health experts say vaccination and restrictions are the main
solutions to contain the spread of the new variants, which are more contagious
and have become dominant in countries like France, Spain and Germany.

Easter. Roman-Catholic and
Protestant Christians from around the world, Romania included, are celebrating
Easter on Sunday, one month earlier than their Orthodox counterparts. This is
the second year that Pope Francis will hold mass amid restrictions, owing to
the coronavirus pandemic. In his Good Friday service at the Vatican, the pope
commemorated Christ’s suffering and crucifixion. Churches are still open in
Italy, despite the country going into lockdown, but people can only travel as
far as the nearest church. Night-time travel restrictions were also lifted in
Romania tonight until 2 am so that the faithful can attend Easter mass.

Gendarmerie. The Romanian Gendermerie is celebrating its 1anniversary, having
been established by ruler Grigore Alexandru Ghica 171 years ago. It is subordinated to the interior ministry and is
responsible for maintaining and restoring public order and public security, the
transport and security of assets, goods and hazardous materials and for
ensuring the security of important sites. Romanian gendarmerie forces also took
part in missions and operations abroad to help maintain peace and security and
in the management of crisis situations.

Tourism. The number of foreign
visitors to Bucharest in February this year dropped by 61% compared with last
year in February, the last normal month of tourism before the coronavirus
pandemic. 59% less Romanians travelled abroad. Tourist accommodation facilities
recorded a drop of 31% in February, with 96% of visitors being Romanians and 4%
from abroad. (CM)