December 2, 2020

Coronavirus update. The transmission rate of the novel coronavirus in Romania slowed down last week by almost 10% compared with the previous week. Over the last 14 days, Bucharest and three other big cities, namely Cluj, Constanta and Iasi, saw the highest number of new cases. While the number of new infections dropped, that of people receiving hospital treatment, including in intensive care, has remained relatively constant. The death toll is also high: 1,154 people died last week, 52 more than the previous week. More than 96% of those who died had comorbidities. 1 in 62 coronavirus infections were among the medical personnel. 4,916 new infections and 135 new Covid-related fatalities were reported on Wednesday, with total number of cases now passing 484,000 and that the death toll hitting 11,665. The authorities are urging people to continue to respect the sanitary rules in place.

Elections. A few days are left of the election campaign ahead of the parliamentary elections on Sunday. Just like in the local elections at the end of September, the authorities have imposed restrictions on the number of participants in election events and strict sanitary rules under which these can take place. Citizens will be able to exercise their right to vote in all localities currently in lockdown, with no restrictions in this respect, said prime minister Ludovic Orban. He explained that people infected with the virus and those who are isolating will be able to cast their votes via mobile polling stations. The prime minister made these explanations as a number of towns and villages are in lockdown in Romania due to spikes in the infection rate. Romanian voters from abroad will be able to cast their votes over the course of two days, on the 5th and 6th of December. The Romanian diaspora will be represented in the next Parliament by four deputies and two senators.

NATO. The Romanian foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu is attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers to discuss security in the Black Sea region. The talks, which are held in video-conference format, are looking at the application of allied decisions with regard to NATO's adjustment to current security developments and strategic challenges. In the first working session on Tuesday, minister Aurescu called for consolidating NATO's role, reaffirming the central role of the transatlantic relation based on the principles of cohesion, unity and allied solidarity, and for revitalising NATO partnerships, including by continuing the Alliance's open door policy.

Handball. The Romanian men's handball champions Dinamo Bucharest lost to the German side Fuchse Berlin on Tuesday night away 29:33, in a Group B match as part of the EHF European League. The return match is scheduled for 8December in Bucharest. With two points in four matches, Dinamo are in the last but one place in the 6-team group.  In women's handball, the national side are playing the opening match of the European Championship hosted by Denmark, facing Germany on Thursday night. The two sides are in Group D, hosted by the city of Kolding. With many players in quarantine after testing positive for coronavirus, Romania will next be facing Poland on 5December and  Norway on 7 December. The three best-ranked sides in the group will qualify for the next stage.

Transmitter. The shortwave stations in Galbeni, eastern Romania, which transmit Radio Romania International's broadcasts, are to undergo scheduled repair works on Thursday, 3 December, between 09.00 and 17.00 Romanian time (07.00-15.00 GMT). This will affect the station's Africa broadcast in English, the Western Europe broadcasts in French and Romanian and the Maghreb and Mashreq broadcasts in Arabic. You can still tune into these broadcasts via the shortwave stations in Ţigăneşti and on the Internet, at www.rri.ro, via the download mobile applications available in Google Play and App Store, via Eutelsat 16A and via your land and mobile phones. (CM)