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PANDEMIC - The total number of Covid-19 infections worldwide has exceeded 85.5 million with a death toll of more than 1.85 million. The USA is the country with the highest number of infections followed by India, Brazil, Russia and France. The UK, which has lately seen a surge in the number of infections, is the first country to use as of today, besides Pfizer/BioNTech, a vaccine made by the Oxford University for the Astrazeneca pharmaceutical group. The new vaccine, cheaper and easier to store, is expected to change the immunization process in the UK. According to Radio Romania correspondent in London, the campaign to administrate the Oxford-Astrazeneca vaccine starts at a critical moment - the number of infections has exceeded 50 thousand per day in the past week, a situation created by the new strain of the virus, which was discovered in southern Britain. The Astrazeneca vaccine has also been approved in India, the world's second most populous country. As of today, Norway imposes additional restrictions to prevent an increase in the number of infections. According to the country's Prime Minister, there is evidence of a new wave of infections, due to Christmas celebrations and the new strain discovered in Britain. Spain is also expected to toughen security measures in several regions, in order to prevent a third wave of the pandemic.
TALKS - The government in Bucharest is expected to hold talks this week on the 2021 state budget. According to Liberal Prime Minister Florin Citu, the budget is going to be built around a 7% GDP deficit and be submitted for Parliament approval by the end of the month. According to the Prime Minister, the 7% value is proof of the firm commitment to fiscal consolidation without hindering the economy. The present budget would allow for the extension by June 30th of the active measures decided against the background of the present pandemic, namely compensations granted to employees during the suspension of the individual employment agreements and financial support for employers. Talks are also expected to focus on a support programme for the HoReCa industry and travel agencies. The government might also tackle this week a law on slightly raising the national minimum wage, while wages in the state-owned enterprises are to be frozen at the level of December 2020.
DECISION - The National Committee for Emergency Situations in Romania has updated their list of countries and areas with the highest infection rate and made a decision on the resumption of the flights towards the UK. People coming to Romania from this country are supposed to isolate themselves for 10 days and must have taken a Covid-19 test at least 48 hours before their arrival. Flights to the UK were suspended on December 20th after a fresh, more contagious virus strain had been discovered in Britain. Italy has been included on the list of countries with a higher risk of transmission.
MEDIA The Liberal MP Alexandru Muraru has requested the setting up of a Parliament committee to investigate the activity of the Romanian Television and Romanian Radio Broadcasting Corporation. Muraru, vice-president of the Education Committee with the Chamber of Deputies believes that rejecting the activity reports of the two institutions' boards of directors is not enough to assess the level of what he described as censorship, propaganda in favour of the opposition Social Democrats, and public money embezzlement committed by the two institutions. Iulian Bulai, president of the Committee for Culture, Art and Mass-media with the Chamber of Deputies, has announced that he will meet on Tuesday the head of the National Audio-Visual Council Monica Gubernat for talks over the faulty communication, which distorts the authorities' messages referring to the Covid-19 pandemic. The reaction comes after the National Television on New Year's Eve aired a programme mocking the measures taken to contain the pandemic.
COVID-19 - In the past 24 hours Romania has reported over 31 hundred fresh cases of Covid-19 infections, as revealed by the 10 thousand tests carried out nation wide, the Strategic Communication Group announced on Monday. Roughly 644 thousand people have been infected with the novel virus since the first case was reported in Romania in February last year. Out of these, 577 thousand have been declared cured. 78 people have died to the virus in the past 24 hours bringing the death toll since the onset of the pandemic to 16,057. 11 hundred are in intensive care and the authorities are bracing up for a new wave of infections after the winter holidays. According to Raed Arafat, head of the Department for Emergency Situations, although the immunization campaign in Romania has commenced, prevention measures, like face covering, hand washing and social distancing remain mandatory. The vaccination campaign has been extended in Romania, which is to activate over 90% of the 376 centers for medical personnel and those serving in medical-social centers. Nearly 13,500 medical workers had been immunized in the first stage, and authorities plan to step up the campaign and have over 20 thousand people immunized on a daily basis.
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