February 7, 2022 UPDATE

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Newsroom, 07.02.2022, 20:00

COVID-19
Bucharest extended the COVID-19 related state of alert in the country for
another 30 days, beginning on Monday, February 7. Face covering remains compulsory
both indoors and outdoors. In places with infection rates below 3 per
thousand, cinema and theatre
halls as well as restaurants may operate at 50% of their capacity, with the
ceiling going down to 30% in places with infection rates above this level. An
emergency order also extends the deadline for filling in the digital forms for
entering the country, from 24 to 72 hours. Nearly 17,000 new
Covid cases were reported in Romania on Monday, along with 81 related
fatalities. In the capital Bucharest the incidence rate continues to rise,
reaching 32.75 per thousand on Monday. The vaccination rate is close to 42% in
urban communities and around 30% in the countryside. Only 8 million adults are
fully vaccinated so far.

RESIGNATION The president of USR party in opposition, Dacian Cioloş, Monday
announced his resignation. The decision came after the party’s National Bureau
convened on Monday rejected Cioloş’s plans to change the structure and
operation of the party, with 14 votes against and 11 in favour. Dacian Cioloş, who
had been elected to office in October, when the right-of-centre USR and PLUS
parties had merged, warned his colleagues that he would step down unless his
restructuring plan was implemented. USR vice-president Cătălin Drulă will take
over as interim party president.

DIPLOMACY The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu said there was no danger of
Romania being drawn into a military conflict with the Russian Federation.
Romanian citizens need not worry that we will be dragged into a war close to
our country, he said in an interview on a private television channel. There
is at the moment a very powerful security umbrella, which provides all possible
guarantees for the security and stability of Romania and its citizens, and this
umbrella is the NATO membership, adding to which is the very strong strategic
partnership with the US, minister Aurescu mentioned. If Russia attacks
Ukraine, he added, responses will come both from NATO, which will consolidate
its eastern flank, and from the EU, which will introduce a substantial set of
economic and individual sanctions targeting the political decision-makers in
Russia. In turn, the head of the Information and Public Relations Directorate
with the Defence Ministry, brigadier general Constantin Spînu, said that the crisis in Ukraine is not a security
situation that directly concerns Romania or any other NATO member state. Romanians and all other nations in the Euro-Atlantic
space should not feel directly threatened, gen. Spînu said.

AGRICULTURE Romania’s agriculture minister Adrian Chesnoiu rules out a
possible food crisis in Romania and a food rationing scenario. He says the
authorities are looking for solutions to support both citizens and farmers.
Chesnoiu also says that authorities are considering the options of introducing
ceilings on food prices or of stabilising and balancing prices.

WASTE
The number of border checkpoints where waste can be brought to Romania for
recycling will be reduced to 15, and all shipments will have to be entered in
an electronic register as soon as possible, the environment minister Tánczos
Barna announced on Monday. The authorities want to make sure that waste is not
misplaced or discarded in unauthorised places. Last year alone, more than 500
offences related to waste imports were identified, and over 15,000 tonnes of
mixed waste were prevented from entering the country, the interior minister Lucian
Bode said in his turn.

OLYMPICS Natalia Ushkina, Romania’s representative in
the biathlon contest has ended the competition on the 57th place in the
individual 15 km race at the winter Olympics in Beijing. In
the giant slalom event, Maria Ioana Constantin also from Romania, has come out
45th, while another Romanian, Raluca
Strămăturaru, is ranking 30th after the first 2 legs of the luge event. At the current
edition of the winter Olympic Games, Romania is being represented by 21
athletes. (A.M.P., D.B.)