NEW EXPERIMENT: Dogs trained in Romania to detect people infected with COVID-19

 

BUCHAREST, FEB 15: The Romanian Police's Dog Center in Sibiu, in central Romania, is training dogs to detect people infected with the SARS-Cov-2 virus, interior minister Lucian Bode announced. According to him, the project started last year, and the dogs will mainly be used by the border and transport police units.

"It is an ongoing process, and I am convinced that we will soon present concrete results of our colleagues' work in this center," minister Bode said.

In the 70 years of the institution's existence, remarkable results have been obtained in the fight against drugs, in counterterrorism intervention, forensic investigation, restricting illegal migration, rescuing victims, and carrying out public order actions.

And soon, the dogs trained here will also contribute to the fight against the spread of the SARS-Cov-2 virus, the minister also said.

Interior minister Bode and defense minister Nicolae Ciuca visited the Romanian Police's Dog Center in Sibiu on Thursday, February 11.

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COURTESY romania-insider.com

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Romania is "fully prepared" to join Schengen: Prime minister Citu

 

BUCHAREST, JAN 28: Romania is "fully prepared" to join the Schengen area, 

Romanian prime minister Florin Citu told his Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte 

in a phone conversation on Monday, January 25.

"Yesterday [e.n. Monday] I had a telephone conversation with the prime minister 

of the Netherlands, Mark Rutte. We analyzed the promising prospects for 

cooperation between Romania and the Netherlands, focusing on strengthening 

economic relations and boosting political dialogue," Citu wrote in a Facebook post.

"Our legitimate goal of joining the Schengen area was one of the key points 

reached in the discussion with prime minister Rutte, to whom I told that Romania 

is, without a doubt, fully prepared to enter the Schengen area," the Romanian 

PM added.

The evolution of the pandemic and the vaccination process in the two states 

were two other topics discussed, Florin Citu also said. 

Romania's accession to the Schengen area since 2011, according to G4media.ro. 

In May 2019, during the EU summit in Sibiu, the Dutch prime minister said that 

Romania would be ready for admission to the Schengen area "when it complies 

with the rule of law and democracy."

In December 2018, the European Parliament adopted a report supporting the 

Schengen membership for Bulgaria and Romania.

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COURTESY romania-insider

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Romania ready to launch COVID vaccination on Dec 27, along with other EU countries

 

BUCHAREST, DEC 2020 - Romania is ready to start vaccination against COVID on December 27, along with other EU countries, the first to be vaccinated will be the medical staff from the 10 hospitals that were involved from the beginning in treating patients with COVID-19, authorities say. Vaccinated persons will receive a certificate containing data on the batch and series of the vaccine.

The declared vaccine acceptance rate is different between COVID and non-COVID hospitals. In COVID hospitals, it is over 95%, while in the rest of the hospitals the acceptance rate is 70% for those with higher education and around 50% for those with secondary education.

There is also a degree of acceptance of vaccination of about 80% among family physicians.

In anticipation of the start of vaccination on December 27, for the medical staff at the forefront of the fight against the virus, the Cantacuzino Institute is already ready to receive vaccines, with a capacity of 1.5 million doses to be distributed to county centers, and the chain distribution will be supported by the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Health, News.ro reports .

The vaccination campaign will involve 1,500 to 2,000 doctors, 4,500 nurses and 2,000 registrars , who would be paid, and discussions on this topic are ongoing.

The second stage of vaccination is expected to start in February.

Medical authorities say there is no need for pre-vaccination testing, with the argument that about 10% of volunteers involved in the vaccine testing phase went through the disease and did not know it, as did people who had the active virus and had a very good answer.

According to the same authorities, even those who are vaccinated will have to wear a mask until an immunity rate of over 60-70% is reached. Each vaccinated person will receive a vaccination certificate and will be contacted the day before to report for the booster.

The vaccination certificate will be written in both Romanian and English, and will contain mentions regarding the batch and the series of the vaccine, being a forensic document.

According to the authorities, most of those who are reluctant to get vaccinated say they do not have enough information, which is why information campaigns will be launched.

The Minister of Health, Nelu Tătaru, announced on Wednesday that the first 10,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine, with which 5,000 people will be vaccinated, will arrive in the country between Christmas and New Year and will be distributed to the medical staff working in infectious disease departments.

"On December 21, it is expected to have the approval for this vaccine of the European Medicines Agency. From then on, they can reach each of the 27 member countries. Between Christmas and New Year's Eve, there will be a first symbolic tranche of 10,000 doses, which means vaccination and booster for 5,000 people, which we will direct to the wards. infectious diseases ", declared Nelu Tătaru on Wednesday afternoon, at Digi 24.

Minister Tătaru mentioned that, starting with January, Romania will receive, in stages, monthly, other vaccines, so that until the beginning of next summer, the categories provided in the vaccination plan will be vaccinated in turn.

Regarding the transport of the vaccine, it will be done by the manufacturer, in "special transports", with freezers that can ensure temperatures of minus 80 - minus 90 degrees Celsius.

Each container contains five doses of vaccine that can be five days at two degrees, Tataru said.

On Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the 27 EU states would be able to "start the same day" their anti-Covid vaccination campaigns after the approval of the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech. 

The European Union could officially approve the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech to fight the new coronavirus as early as December 23, just two days after the possible agreement of the regulatory authority, a European Commission official said on Wednesday, quoted by Reuters .

According to EU regulations, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) recommends the approval of new medicines and vaccines, but the final decision on their marketing is taken by the European Commission, after consultation with EU governments.

The agency announced on Tuesday that it could issue a recommendation on the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech on December 21.

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COURTESY universul.net

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Construction of Romania’s Ice Hotel postponed due to the pandemic, lack of snow

 

BUCHAREST, DEC 2020 - The construction of the Hotel of Ice near Balea Lake, in Romania's Fagaras Mountains, has been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the lack of snow and ice, project initiators announced. They also said that a decision to start the hotel's construction would be made early next year.

"The global pandemic caused by COVID-19 and the increasingly more serious 

climate changes of the last years have created big problems for those managing 

the 'Hotel of Ice Balea Lake' Tourist Marketing Project. Considering the complicated 

situation, taking into account all the organizational and logistical aspects, the 

representatives of the company that builds and manages the Hotel of Ice in the 

glacial basin of Balea Lake decided to postpone, at least for the moment, the 

construction works of the sixteenth unique hotel," reads a press release quoted 

by Agerpres.

Thus, the initiators of the Hotel of Ice project said they could be forced to opt for 

a smaller construction this winter.

"As it's happening all over the world, we have a lot of problems caused by the 

pandemic. There are many sanitary rules, many fears, quite complex logistical 

and organizational problems. 

In addition, just like last season, winter is no longer what it was 15 years ago! 

Climate change is very visible at Balea Lake; at this time, there is not enough 

snow, the ice formed on Balea Lake is not thick at all, and the recorded 

temperatures are quite high. As a result, at least for now, we have decided not 

to start work on the Hotel of Ice," said Arnold Klingeis, the initiator of the Hotel 

of Ice Balea Lake project.

"However, because Romanian and foreign tourists call our office daily and ask us 

about the Hotel of Ice, we are considering building the objective during the first 

days of next year, but the decision will be made only in a few weeks. Most likely, 

if we decide that the Ice Hotel will be built, we will go for a construction with a 

simpler, less complex shape, with a smaller number of rooms," he added.

This is the second season that the Ice Hotel's construction is postponed. The same 

happened in the 2019-2020 season when, due to the warm weather, the builders 

were unable to extract ice from the Balea Lake, and thus the start of the project 

was postponed for January 2020. Later, project managers decided to replace the

hotel with an "Igloo Village." A similar decision could be taken this winter too.

In the previous years, the hotel's construction started in the early days of 

December. The Ice Hotel was thus usually fully booked during the winter holidays. 

Most of the tourists who stayed at the hotel were coming from abroad, from 

countries such as the UK or Germany.

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COURTESY romania-insider.com

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Impressions of Ambassador of Romania about Pakistan?

 

ISLAMABAD, DEC 15 - Ambassador of Romania Nicolae Goia has said that Pakistan is strategically located between the twin forces of competition and collaboration in the mega-region that embraces Central Asia, South Asia, Middle East, and Caucasus. In this context it is important to note that Pakistan has a versatile geopolitical potential which can multiply opportunities for cooperation with important regional players.

He said, Increased regional stability could have a stabilizing effect for ongoing domestic efforts, hence Pakistan had committed itself to supporting the reconciliation effort in Afghanistan and is working toward normalization of relations with India.

Ambassador of Romania further said, In my opinion Pakistan has been very active diplomatically since its inception and the new government it working with success on global perception management in order to achieve foreign policy objectives.

I, as the Romanian Ambassador in Pakistan, have developed a true affection for your country, my second home for a while, and wish with all my heart that Pakistan will enjoy stability, peace and prosperity the Pakistani people so much deserve, he added.

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COURTESY DNA NEWS

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