The President of Romania has appointed the new Prime Minister
The President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, appointed the retired General Nicolae Ciucă to be the new Prime Minister, after consultations on Monday with the main parliamentary parties. Liberal Nicolae Ciucă said he intends to have the government team formed by Thursday. The proposal for Nicolae Ciucă to hold the position of prime minister in the future government came from PNL, PSD, UDMR and the Group of National Minorities. „This majority proposed me the name of prime minister, a proposal that I accepted. Consequently, I appoint Mr. Nicolae Ciucă to form a government team and to appear before the Romanian Parliament for the vote of confidence”, said Klaus Iohannis. Nicolae Ciucă said he worked together with the parties for the approval of a government program that would ensure the stability of the country. „Basically, Romanian citizens expect stability and solutions from us, in order to solve the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, energy crisis and also to have a government program that leads to the necessary decisions for the implementation of PNRR”, added Nicolae Ciucă. According to the Constitution, the candidate for prime minister position will ask within 10 days the Parliament a vote of confidence on the governing program and on the cabinet composition.
Almost 90 percent of students in Romania returned to classes
Almost 90 percent of preschoolers and students in Romania returned to classes on Monda, after the Romanian authorities changed the criteria according to which the scenario for carrying out the teaching activity is established. As of Monday, face-to-face courses are no longer conditioned by vaccination in localities where the incidence rate is less than 3 cases per thousand inhabitants, and if the incidence exceeds this rate, children can return to classes only if 60 percent of staff are vaccinated. After applying these rules, more than 2,600,000 children returned to their classrooms, while about 10 percent of all students remained on online courses. This week, also, is set to begin the delivery of non-invasive saliva-based coronavirus tests, and both students and teachers should take such tests twice a week.
The number of new COVID-19 cases fell slightly
The number of new cases of coronavirus infection fell slightly below 2,000 for the first time in nine weeks. There are now almost 11,000 patients in hospitals, of which 1,573 in intensive care units, and the death toll is the lowest in two months – 105 registered in the last 24 hours. The average infection rate is now below 3.5 cases per thousand inhabitants, and less than half of the country’s counties are still in the red zone. However, the head of the anti-COVID vaccination campaign, Valeriu Gheorghiță, warned that there is a risk that the scenario in Germany, which quickly went from wave four to wave five of the pandemic, will be repeated in Romania, where the vaccination rate is low. An even greater danger would be a new mutation of the coronavirus that bypasses the body’s immune response, emphasizes Valeriu Gheorghiţă. „The danger now is not to have a viral variant more contagious than the Delta variant, but a viral variant that bypasses the immune response, which partially or completely evades the immune response. It would mean that the current vaccines and the protection acquired so far in the population, as a result of going through the disease and as a result of vaccination, will not be enough to prevent new infections”, said Valeriu Gheorghiţă. The number of people newly vaccinated against COVID-19 has dropped significantly, reaching its lowest level since the beginning of last month./mbaciu
Magda Baciu
