February 26, 2021

february 26, 2021 A roundup of domestic and international news

Covid-19 RO. Starting today, the incidence rate of infections with the new coronavirus in Romania will be calculated according to other rules, in the sense that outbreaks will be introduced in the final analysis. Authorities say that the new rules are in line with the international standards and other countries are doing the same. According to the head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Raed Arafat, a slight increase in the incidence of COVID-19 cases is expected as a result of the new approach. The new outbreaks that will be introduced in the calculation of COVID-19 cases are reported mainly in hospitals and care centers. In another development, some 3,700 new cases of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 were reported within 24 hours after performing about 36 thousand tests nationwide. In total, since the onset of the pandemic in Romania, almost 795 thousand cases have been registered. 90% of the Covid-19 patients have been cured.  The total number of deaths has exceeded 20,200. Today is one year since the first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in Romania. The first death from coronavirus was officially reported in the country on March 22 last year.


Pandemic. Worldwide, the number of cases of Sars-Cov -2 infection has exceeded 113 million, and that of deaths 2.5 million. According to worldometers.info, more than 89 million infected people have been cured. Meanwhile, European countries have opted for voluntary vaccination against Covid-19, although some of them, such as France, the United Kingdom or Hungary, are examining potential certificates or "passports" to prove it, international news agencies report. In Germany, coronavirus vaccination is voluntary and the government has stressed that there are no plans to make it mandatory. Vaccination is not mandatory in France either. However, the government has launched an online consultation to find out citizens' views on the possibility of implementing a vaccination certificate and whether it should be mandatory or optional. In the United Kingdom, which was the first country in the world to launch a mass vaccination program against Covid-19, immunization is widely accepted by the population. The vaccination plan in Italy is also voluntary and started with the highest risk groups. For its part, the Austrian Government insists that vaccination is and will be voluntary and that it has not yet been decided, for example, whether it can be a condition for carrying out an activity. The World Health Organization insists that the cure for the pandemic is to speed up immunization, and the available vaccines promise an effectiveness of about 90%.


Budget. The Romanian Parliament's budget-finance committees  continue, today, the debates on the 2021 budget bill.  Debates are scheduled on the budgets of several ministries, including the Ministry of Economy, of Tourism, the Ministry of Development and Agriculture, of Education and Foreign Affairs, as well as the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Justice. On Thursday, members of the two committees approved several articles in the draft budgets and endorsed budgets of some chief authorizing officers. These include the budgets of the Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of Interior, the Presidential Administration, the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies. No amendment out of the more than 3,000 submitted by the opposition was accepted. According to the calendar established by the joint Permanent Bureaus, the joint sitting of the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate on the state and social security budgets is scheduled for Monday. The bill will get the final vote on Tuesday.


Summit. The EU heads of state and government, including the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, are today attending a virtual summit on security and defense. Talks focus on means to improve the collective ability to respond to challenges and issues related to cyber attacks and hybrid threats. On Thursday, the first day of the summit, European leaders called for firm restrictions and an accelerated pace of immunization in order to stop the spread of new coronavirus variants. Officials stressed the need for coordinated action to combat the COVID-19 pandemic on the continent, but failed to overcome disagreements over a future vaccination passport. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said there were many questions about how they would be used, but added that each Member State had to make its own decision. It has also been agreed that non-essential travel will be restricted for the time being, but the unrestricted flow of goods and services within the single market must be ensured, including through the use of green corridors.


Poseidon 21. Some 700 soldiers, 13 military ships, 9 aircraft, a pyrotechnic intervention vehicle and a remote-controlled underwater robot will be deployed during the exercise 'Poseidon 21' organized by the Romanian Naval Forces between February 26 and March 6. It is the first multinational exercise in the Black Sea this year, and involves  the participation of forces and equipment from Bulgaria, France, Greece, Romania, Spain, USA and Turkey. 'Poseidon 21' is an exercise with a high degree of complexity, included in the NATO Training Program proposed by Romania at the NATO Summit in Warsaw, in 2016, to strengthen security measures on the European south-eastern flank, as well as to ensure a continuous presence in the Black Sea region.


Ford. Due to the problems related to the supply of semiconductors that affect a large part of the world car industry, the Ford factory in Craiova (southwestern Romania) has suspended for eight days the production of vehicles and engines. Production would resume on March 10. The factory representatives have state that, in the eight days off work, the employees will be paid according to the agreements concluded between the company and the unions and taking into account the legislation in force. This month, the Dacia factory, owned by the French group Renault, also stopped production for five days in Mioveni (southern Romania). The crisis in the automotive industry is expected to last a few more months and could lead to a world production of over a million smaller cars this year. (M.I.)



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Publicat: 2021-02-26 13:55:00
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