January 16, 2022

COVID-19 According to the latest figures released by authorities on Sunday, 7595 new Covid-19 infections have been reported in the past 24 hours in Romania, 60% more than a week ago. 28 Covid-related fatalities have been reported. Experts believe the fifth wave of the pandemic is stronger than the previous ones and is to reach its peak in Romania in the last week of January or the first of February, when the number of daily cases is expected to go up to 50 thousand. The interest of the Romanians in getting the jab is still low, with only 36 hundred in the past 24 hours. Epidemiologists are urging the people to get immunized because the vulnerable categories are at risk.

TENNIS Romania has five representatives on the main draw of Australian Open, the year's first Grand Slam tournament. Other Romanians have been eliminated from the competition. In the first round Simona Halep, the world's former number one, will be up against Magdalena Frech of Poland, while Sorana Cirstea will be playing Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, who has a 5-3 advantage in head-to-head matches. Another Romanian player, Irina Begu will be up against Oceane Dodin of France. Jaqueline Cristian of Romania will be playing Greet Minnen of Belgium and Gabriela Ruse will be meeting Jasmine Paolini of Italy. British player Emma Raducanu, who has a Romanian father and is the defending champion of the US Open will be playing Sloane Stephens of the USA.

HANDBALL CSM Bucharest, a women's handball side from Romania secured a 28-20 away win against Montenegrin side Buducnost BEMAX Podgorica on Saturday night in the Group A of the Champions League. The Romanians put on a good show and clinched a well-deserved victory. On January 19th our handballers will be up against French side Brest Bretagne and three days later against Borussia Dortmund of Germany. Coached by the selector of the Romanian national side, Adrian Vasile, CSM Bucharest have as their main goal to win all their three games this month.  

JUSTICE The Ministry of Justice in Bucharest has completed a draft on dismantling the Special Direction for investigating criminal offences within the judiciary, SIIJ. The institution has announced in a communiqué that in the following days it will submit the document for government and Parliament approval. We recall that the activity of this special body has attracted criticism from the European Commission, which says the SIIJ could be more susceptible to interventions from outside than the Anti-corruption Directorate, known in Romania as the DNA. The Justice Ministry has announced that it will resume the process of amending the justice laws and the criminal codes so that they can be approved by Parliament by the end of March. The Ministry of Justice reiterates its support for the EU law and legislation stipulated by the Lisbon Treaty and recognized by the Romanian constitution.

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