February 5, 2022
A roundup of local and international news.
Newsroom, 05.02.2022, 13:43
Covid-19 update. Romania reported
almost 29,000 new Covid cases today, as well as 110 related fatalities,
including two from an earlier date. Tuesday saw the highest daily figure since
the start of the pandemic, with over 40,000 new cases. The health ministry
official Adriana Pistol says
the reproduction number has decreased, but that there will still be rises in
the number of infections. She said Romania adopted the EU rule according to
which the validity of the Covid certificate for
travel within the EU is nine months without the booster shot. In Romania, the
Covid certificate for travellers who have had the booster shot is valid until
end of the year, with the EU yet to make a decision in this regard. When
entering Romania, unvaccinated travellers must produce a negative Covid test
result valid for 72 hours or proof of recovery from infection in the last 180
days.
NATO. NATO must find a replacement
for its secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, whose term is coming to an end on 1st
of October, when he is due to take over as governor of the Central Bank of
Norway. According to dpa news agency, there is no obvious successor to
Stoltenberg, but the former British prime minister Theresa May, Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte, the Estonian prime
minister Kaja Kallas, former EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini and
Romanian President Klaus Iohannis have been mentioned as possible candidates to
replace Stoltenberg. A decision from the 30 NATO member states is expected at
the NATO summit in June at the latest. In a press conference on Friday, Jens
Stoltenberg promised to remain fully committed to NATO until his term ends.
Cooperation. The
Romanian health minister Alexandru Rafila and his Italian counterpart
Roberto Speranza on Friday in Rome signed a memorandum of understanding that
provides for the development of collaboration relations in the field, from
public health emergencies, training and intervention, to pandemic management.
The signing was preceded by a visit to the Higher Institute of Health, where
the grounds of a collaboration with the National Institute of Public Health in
Romania were laid. The collaboration is all the more important as there are
over 1.2 million Romanian citizens in Italy, an official statement reads. The
Italian authorities reiterated the commitments for the provision of medical
assistance to Romanian children suffering from oncological and cardiac diseases
and for the training of Romanian specialists in the field of paediatric
cardiovascular surgery.
Motorway. Romania may sign an
agreement with the neighbouring Serbia by the end of March on the construction
of a motorway between the western Romanian city of Timişoara and the Serbian capital Belgrade.
The announcement was made by the Romanian transport minister Sorin Grindeanu
after talks with the Serbian side. The value of the feasibility study is around
2.8 million euros and is 85% funded by European funds. The duration of the
contract for the feasibility study is 32 months.
Olympic Games. The Romanian skiers Daniel
Andrei Cacina and Andrei Feldorean qualified for the men’s normal hill individual
event at the Winter Olympic Games hosted by Beijing. Cacina finished 40th
in the qualification round with a jump of 83.5, for which he earned 70.9
points, while Feldorean finished 45th with a jump of 76.5 m, earning
55 points. Another Romanian athlete, Valentin Creţu, will compete in his final
two heats in men’s singles luge on Sunday. Romania has 21 athletes at the 2022
Olympic Games in seven events: luge, bobsleigh, alpine skiing, cross-country
skiing, ski jumping, biathlon and speed skating. (CM)
