WEATHER Weather in Romania will continue to be hot and unstable. Yellow and orange-code alerts for heavy rainfall are in place across the country, with unstable weather expected until at least midweek. Temperatures will drop a bit, but the level of thermal discomfort will remain high. Thunderstorms will first hit the south-west, west, centre and north of the country, to then cover the south and south-east beginning on Tuesday. The extreme weather has caused major damages in the west of the country over the past few days, with several parts of Alba County affected by flash floods.
FLOODING The death toll of the disastrous flooding in Western Europe nears 200, as many missing people are found dead. Germany reports the largest number of victims. Chancellor Angela Merkel has visited some of the worst hit regions, and promised immediate aid from the federal government for reconstruction works, while also pledging more efforts to fight climate change. The EU has announced it would provide aid both to Germany and to the other countries affected by floods, such as Belgium and the Netherlands. In Belgium, more than 30 people are dead and others are missing. Italy also sees heavy rainfalls causing floods in the northern and southern parts of the country.
COVID-19 The Romanian health minister Ioana Mihăilă has stated that the 4th wave of the Covid-19 pandemic will affect unvaccinated people, and said less than 1% of those who have got the vaccine caught the disease. Ioana Mihăilă urged even those who recovered from the disease to get the vaccine, arguing that this would prevent a severe form of the Covid-19, even when the Delta variant is involved. In spite of continuing public campaigns promoting vaccination, the target of 5 million fully vaccinated Romanians is yet to be reached. Meanwhile, 46 new infection cases were reported on Monday afternoon, out of close to 11,000 tests. 269 Covid-19 patients are currently in hospital, of whom 33 in intensive care.
PANDEMIC Greece reintroduces COVID-19 restrictions in spite of the tourist season being in full swing. According to Radio Romania's correspondent in Athens, several Greek islands deemed free of COVID-19 are introducing night curfews and banning the access of unvaccinated people in restaurants and clubs. The Greek government will also make vaccination compulsory for several categories of employees. France tightens access restrictions for travelers from certain countries, including the UK, Spain, Greece and the Netherlands, who will be required to get tested 24 hours prior to arriving in the country. On the other hand, England lifted all restrictions on Monday, in spite of an alarming increse in the number of Delta variant infections. London argues that containment measures cannot be kept in place forever, and the vaccines provide protection.
AVIATION DAY. The Romanian Minister of Defense, Nicolae Ciuca, and the Chief of the Defense Staff, Lieutenant General Daniel Petrescu, will participate, on Tuesday, in the military ceremony organized on the occasion of the Romanian Aviation and Air Force Day at the Air Heroes Monument in downtown Bucharest, the Ministry of Defense has announced. During the ceremony, wreaths will be laid in memory of the aviator heroes, and the 74th PATRIOT Regiment - the tactical combat unit established on December 1, 2018, whose mission is to render operational the PATRIOT surface-to-air missile system - will be handed the Battle Flag . According to the Ministry of National Defense, "this ceremony pays homage to the memory of the heroes who, on the battlefields or in missions carried out in theaters of operations or on the national territory, served with devotion the wings of the homeland and joined the heaven's squadron." The Day of the Romanian Aviation and Air Force is celebrated, every year, on July 20, when the Holy Prophet Elijah, the spiritual protector of the pilots, is also celebrated.
FESTIVAL Tickets for the 25th George Enescu International Festival are available as of Monday. The festival, scheduled to take place between 28 August and 26 September, will bring to Bucharest 3,500 Romanian and foreign artists. Healthcare measures will be in place this year, to protect the public, the artists, the organisers and journalists. Some of the world's most celebrated orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the National Orchestra of France conducted by the Romanian Cristian Măcelaru, and the Munich Philharmonic conducted by Valery Gergiev, will take part in this year's festival, alongside world-famous soloists like violinists Maxim Vengerov, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Joshua Bell, cellist Alisa Weilerstein and pianists Denis Matsuev, Jean Yves Thibaudet and Kirill Gerstein. (MI)
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