January 28, 2021

PANDEMIC Europe's concern about the novel strains of the Covid-19 virus is on the rise. The UK announced it can resort to additional prevention measures, including the isolation of visitors in hotels made available by the authorities. With six million, Britain boasts the highest number of people immunized so far. Norway is expected to close its borders for all visitors, with the exception of those essential, applying some of the toughest prevention measures in Europe. The country, which is not an EU member, has announced these restrictions after the discovery of an outbreak of the more contagious strain initially identified in Britain. The government in Berlin is considering the cancellation of almost all international flights in order to prevent the spreading of the mutating virus. In Portugal, the government decided to cancel all the flights towards Brazil starting this Friday, due to the growing number of infections. The new strain, initially discovered in Britain, has also been detected in other 70 countries, the WHO says. According to worldmeters.info, over 101 million infections have been registered worldwide so far and at least 2.1 million people have died.

CLIMATE US president Joe Biden on Wednesday said the US must lead the world response to the climate crisis. Biden has signed a series of executive orders designed to address climate change; they are aimed at freezing new oil and gas leases on public lands and double off-shore wind produced energy by 2030. The new US president has appointed John Kerry as the special presidential envoy for climate. Biden has announced an environment summit the US is going to stage on Earth Day, April 22nd, which also coincides with the fifth anniversary of the Paris Agreement, the USA rejoined shortly after he had taken power. During the summit the USA is expected to announce fresh measures aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Biden also intends to present before the Congress a 2 billion dollar climate package, which is expected to place environmental measures at the centre of the US economy.

VACCINE Romania's national vaccination campaign is in full swing, with over 570 thousand people immunized so far. Health Minister Vlad Voiculescu has announced that certain centres, which immunized people from outside the eligible categories, are to face sanctions. In turn Education Minister Sorin Cimpeanu says that the personnel in the country's Education system will benefit from a special immunization line adding that the evolution of the infection rate is decisive in the decision to bring students back to school again. Last week Romania received only half of the doses requested and now has a deficit of 117 thousand. Over 29 hundred fresh infections were announced on Thursday. Since the outbreak, 721 thousand people have got infected in Romania and more than 18 thousand died. About one thousand people are currently being treated in IC units.

PROTEST Members of the Medical Solidarity Trade Union Federation have taken to the streets of Bucharest today calling for protection measures for the workers in Romania's medical field after 93 professionals in this field have so far died in the line of duty. Besides legal rights, other claims are focusing on various forms of recognizing the efforts and sacrifices made by the medical personnel. According to unionists, protests have also been caused by the incumbent government's refusal to participate in a social dialogue. Also on Thursday, in Iasi, north-eastern Romania, trade unionists from the country's penitentiary system protested over wage freeze in the sector. Protesters have called for the elimination of unequal pay in the public system, the implementation of the pay law in state-owned institutions and a minimum wage adjusted to the latest price hikes in consumer goods.  

 (bill)