December 5, 2021 UPDATE

A roundup of domestic and international news

Newsroom, 05.12.2021, 19:00

Covid-19RO. On Sunday, Bucharest authorities established new measures after the first two cases of SARS-CoV2 Omicron infection were confirmed in Romania – in people repatriated on November 30 from South Africa. The Health Minister Alexandru Rafila has stated that Romanian and other EU citizens coming from outside the EU will have to present a PCR test taken 48 hours before the trip at the latest. The unvaccinated ones will be placed in quarantine for 10 days. Those coming from EU countries will have to show the green certificate or the negative result of a PCR test obtained within 72 hours before traveling. The unvaccinated or people who have not had the disease in the past six months coming from the countries on the red list will be quarantined for 10 days. Starting December 20, Romania also introduces the obligation for travelers to complete the passenger location form, based on which the travel history is established. The document is already requested by several European countries.The coronavirus pandemic continues its declining trend in Romania. 35% fewer new cases and associated deaths have been reported this week as compared to the previous one. The number of hospitalized and intensive care patients has also been reduced by a quarter. 916 new cases of COVID-19 and 78 deaths, 5 of which from a previous reporting period, were announced on Sunday. The incidence has also been dropping, and is now below 5 per one thousand inhabitants everywhere in the country.

Pandemic. Many countries around the world are preparing measures to limit the spread of the new coronavirus variant that seems to be more transmissible than Delta. First detected in South Africa, Omicron infections have already been reported in about 40 countries. As of Tuesday, passengers arriving in the UK will have to take a COVID test no later than 48 hours before departure. Italy will ban the access of unvaccinated people to most public places starting Monday. France, where 12 cases of Omicron have been identified, has changed the sanitary conditions for entry into the country. According to the RRA correspondent in Paris, all those coming from outside the EU, including the vaccinated, will be required to present a negative test taken no later than 48 hours in advance. Unvaccinated European citizens are also required to show a negative result no later than 24 hours after taking the test. In another move, more than 40,000 people, according to police estimates, took part in a march against the lockdown and compulsory vaccination against COVID-19 in Vienna on Saturday, Reuters reports. Following the rapid proliferation of coronavirus infections, Austria became the first Western European country to re-introduce the lockdown last month and also decided to make COVID-19 vaccination mandatory starting February.

NATO. The Romanian frigate “Regina Maria” is due to return in the military port of Constanta on Monday, from a mission in the Mediterranean, where it participated, between October 27 and November 30, in NATO traffic monitoring missions, part of a Standing NATO Maritime Group. During the six weeks of the mission, the Romanian military ship also participated in the multinational exercises “Dogu Akdeniz 21”, organized by the Turkish Naval Forces, and “NIRIIS 21”, organized by the Greek Naval Forces, along with over 50 ships, 8 submarines and dozens of Allied and partner military aircraft.

Pope. Pope Francis on Sunday called on the world to put an end to the current wrecking of civilization in a speech at a migrant camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, FP reports. The Mediterranean is on its way to becoming a gloomy graveyard without tombstones, said the sovereign pontiff, on his second visit to Lesbos since 2016. He stressed that “little has changed with regard to the issue of migration.” On Saturday, in a speech before local authorities, the Sovereign Pontiff pleaded in Athens for a common migration policy in a nationalism-torn Europe. It is the first visit by a sovereign pontiff to the capital of Greece, a predominantly Orthodox country, in the last two decades. Pope Francis went to Lesbos before, in 2016, but not to Athens. He was thus following in the footsteps of John Paul II, who visited the Greek capital in May 2001. He then apologized for the sins of Catholics against the Orthodox, referring to the plunder of Constantinople in 1204. Earlier, Pope Francis visited Cyprus, the EU state with the highest number of asylum applications, according to the BBC.

Tennis. Romania will face Spain in the qualifying round for the final tournament of the Davis Cup 2022, according to the draw that took place on Sunday in Madrid. The matches will take place in Spain on March 4-5. Next years Davis Cup final will bring together 16 teams, four of which are already known: Russia, Croatia, the United Kingdom and Serbia, the last two wild card recipients. Spain has won the cup l six times and has been a finalist four times. The Spaniards have ten players in the top 100 ATP, with Rafael Nadal as undisputed leader (5th place). Romania qualified for the Davis Cup 2022 after beating the national team of Peru 4-0. The best ranked Romanian player is Marius Copil, 276th place ATP. Romania’s only victory against Spain was in 1969, in Valencia, 4-1, in the semifinals of the European zone, through the points brought then by Ion Ţiriac (two), Ilie Năstase and the pair of the two.