May, 2020 / Volume 24, Issue 4 www.business-review.eu TAKING A LOOK AT THE POST-PANDEMIC ECONOMY

Taking a look at the post-pandemic economy

The lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic sent the global economy into crisis. In the second quarter of the year, most of the world’s economies will lose between 10 and 25 percent of GDP, including Romania’s. The recovery should start in the second half of 2020, but it will take many years to get back to pre-crisis levels.

By Aurel Constantin

Only a third of consumers are willing to spend the same amounts they did before the crisis or more

The first edition of the EY Future Consumer Index, a survey tracking consumer sentiment across the US, Canada, UK, France, and Germany, revealed how the lockdown-related changes in people’s behaviour are influencing the economy. Four major behaviour trends emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic: “Cut deep,” “Stay calm, carry on,” “Save and stockpile,” and “Hibernate and spend.”

Consumers that fall into the “Cut deep” segment (27.3 percent) are spending less across all expense categories as the pandemic impacts employment; those representing the “Stay calm, carry on” category are continuing to spend as normal (26.2 percent). Most consumers (35.1 percent) represent the “Save and stockpile” segment, indicating that they feel pessimistic about the future, while consumers in the “Hibernate and spend” segment (11.4 percent) are spending more across the board. As we can see, only a third of consumers are willing to spend the same amounts they did before the crisis or more. This means that two thirds will spend less, and that translates into declining sales for many segments of the economy. “42 percent of those interviewed expect their shopping behaviour to permanently change, a third are willing to pay more for local products, a quarter would do so trusted brands and a quarter for ethical products,” says Cristian Carstoiu, Business Advisory Services Partner at EY Romania.

The four segments identified by EY could morph into five very different ones as the crisis abates. For example, the Index currently suggests that over time, most consumers in the “Save and stockpile” segment will migrate to two new segments: “Remain frugal” and “Cautiously extravagant.” The post-COVID-19 consumer segments, detailed in the Index, are summarised as: “Keep cutting” (13.1 percent), “Stay frugal” (21.7 percent), “Get to normal” (31.4 percent), “Cautiously extravagant” (24.7 percent), and “Back with a bang” (9.1 percent).

The EY Future Consumer Index found that 54 percent of consumers would make their personal data more available if it helped to monitor and track an infection cluster. It also revealed that health care providers are regarded as the most authoritative organisations, with 47 percent of consumers indicating that they trust them completely, compared to governments (28 percent), brands (17 percent), and media companies (16 percent).

Consumers could view time, talent, and

natural resources as equally precious, with traditional notions of status receding and being replaced by purpose and social good. This is supported by the Index, in which 33 percent of consumers strongly agreed that they would re-evaluate the things they value most as a result of the pandemic, while more than a quarter said they were already paying more attention to what they consume and the impact they have.

CONFIDENCE IN ECONOMY DROPS The EY survey results can also be applied to our country, and linked to people’s confiing when it comes to the way they invest or understand the relationship between consumption and production. “Before the crisis, we were used to consuming a lot of import goods,” said Vasilescu during a Digi24 TV appearance. He noted that we will get to a point where the economy will function normally with people looking to buy local products instead of imports. Asked how this crisis was different from the one in 2008 or others in the past, Vasilescu said: “Three crises are overlapping. It is first and foremost a health crisis, secondly it is a social crisis, and thirdly, it is an economic crisis. When three

dence in Romania’s economy. This confidence has collapsed more than it did during the 2008 financial crisis, according to data released by the European Commission. Adrian Vasilescu, adviser to the BNR governor, explained that three crises are currently overlapping - health, economic, and social.

The population’s and companies’ confidence in the economy collapsed in April, amid the coronavirus pandemic crisis, recoriding the largest decline since 1992. Economic perception and employment prospects indicators recorded some of the steepest declines in the European Union in April, according to data published by the European Commission. The economic perception indicator plunged from 99.6 points in March to 65.3 points in April.

Vasilescu says that the way people are thinking and doing things is changing, includcrises overlap, we need to think very carefully about how we get out of this situation.”

production. Despite a manageable public debt ratio of around 35 percent of GDP, the present caretaker government has limited fiscal space to mitigate the impact of the crisis, after years of strongly pro-cyclical budgets.

ECONOMIC CONTRACTION After a long period of economic expansion, with real GDP growth of 4.2 percent in 2019, Romania is expected to experience a contraction in 2020, according to European Commission data. Short-term macroeconomic risks are partially mitigated by the concerted actions of the national government, the central bank and the EU, while the economy is set to face adjustment costs to its manufacturing sector over the medium term, especially in the machinery and transport equipment sector.

In addition, growth in domestic consumption is likely to slow owing to lower social expenditures and softening industrial

The expected economic contraction in 2020 will lead to a fiscal deficit of 6.7 percent of GDP in 2020 under government estimates (the European Commission’s baseline 2020 fiscal expectations are more pessimistic at -8.5 percent of GDP), including the effects of lower-than-expected tax revenues and increasing unemployment benefits. Fiscal measures could also be tailored via support from international organisations, including the EU, the EBRD and, possibly, the IMF.

Romania’s EUR 34 billion in foreign

exchange reserves cover 86 percent of its foreign-currency-denominated public debt and 235 percent of total short-term foreigncurrency denominated economy-wide debt. Accordingly, the central bank has sufficient capacity to address the crisis in the domestic economy whilst ensuring a stable RON exchange rate. After a policy rate cut of 50 base points to 2 percent in March, the central bank is unlikely to pursue further aggressive interest rate cuts in order to safeguard the exchange rate.

At the same time, quantitative easing could play a greater role in the central bank’s efforts to stimulate the domestic economy going forward.

As far as the country rating is concerned, the weak fiscal management of Romania’s previous government is reflected in Scope’s Negative Outlook on the country’s BBB- ratings. The current caretaker government has taken decisive actions towards mitigating September’s pension hike while structural adjustments to the tax system and overly rigid expenditure items have so far not been enacted. ”We consider the current counter-cyclical fiscal measures to be important in safeguarding the economy against a more pronounced GDP contraction. At the same time, timely and credible policy actions toward a more prudent fiscal framework in the medium term could support the country’s BBB- ratings,” the EC report reads. back to work, while hotels will have a list of health and safety measures to follow in order to take in tourists.

The auto industry has returned to work, including the Dacia-Renault and Ford factories. But their problems were not generated by the COVID-19 restrictions, but by the falling demand for new vehicles. And as long as demand doesn’t return to high levels, auto manufacturers will still be in trouble. Surprisingly, Dacia may have better sales than its competitor since it is still one of the cheapest cars in Europe.

HUMAN RESOURCES DROP BY 15 PERCENT The crisis can be seen clearly in an industry that had grown in the last 10 years: human resources. The local HR services market will fall by about 15 percent in 2020, the first year of correction for this industry out of the last 10 analysed, as a result of market maturation and the coronavirus pandemic, according to a KeysFin study.

COLLAPSED ECONOMIC SEGMENTS To name just a few of the worst hit businesses, we have the auto industry, restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, beauty shops. We can also add the textile industry, footwear manufacturers or any other manufacturers that are not on the list of base products. Oil companies are hit by the decreasing barrel price, but before that they were hit by the contracting demand for fuel (down by approximately 30 percent in April).

The good news is that some businesses will reopen after May 15. Romanian president Klaus Iohannis announced that the state of emergency would end on that date and some restrictions would be lifted, but not for all businesses at once. Over 100,000 restaurant employees will have to wait until June to go

The turnover of HR service providers in Romania increased by 12.3 percent in 2018 compared to the previous year, and exceeded the 2009 level by almost 337 percent. At the

end of 2018, the industry recorded revenues of RON 4.2 billion and KeysFin analysts estimate RON 4.9 billion for 2019.

“HR services have been among the industries with a rapid rise in the local economy, and our analysis shows both the growth trend and the diversification of services. But now it is the time for the sector to mature: solid businesses with know-how and important customers will remain, while small companies lacking logistical and financial power will either reorient to adjacent services or will disappear. In 2020, the watchword will be reinvention, regardless of the type of business in question,” said Roxana Popescu, the managing director of KeysFin. Approximately 3,500 companies were active at the end of 2019 on the local HR services market.

The net result (net profit minus net loss) of HR service providers advanced by 3.3 percent in 2018 compared to 2017, to reach RON 228 million. Of the almost 3,460 companies analysed, more than half (52 percent) made a profit, 32 percent had losses, while the rest reported a net zero result in 2018. The number of employees in the field totalled 54,500 in 2018, 4 percent below the 2017 figure.

According to KeysFin data, there was a switch among the top ranking companies in the field by turnover in 2018. Lugera & Makler became the market leader, exceeding Adecco Resurse Umane (the main player in 2017) by a small margin. The turnover of the 1st place company went over RON 321 million, with a market share of 7.6 percent. In third place came wManpower HR, with RON 195.6 million and 4.6 percent of the total market.

NEW CHALLENGES The KeysFin analysis dedicated to this industry, for 2017, points to the acute staffing crisis and the challenge faced by companies to find professional employees in an economy where the demand for staff had long exceeded the supply. But the situation radically changed in just a few weeks, when technical unemployment or employment contract suspensions have become a reality for over one million Romanians.

According to data from the Labour Ministry, on April 29, there were 1,027,117 suspended employment contracts, of which 327,200 in the manufacturing industry (32 percent), 185,000 in retail (18 percent), and 115,000 (11 percent) in hotels and restaurants.

As a rate, according to the methodology for calculating the unemployment rate, the number of suspended employment contracts compared to the total active population (9.1 million people in Q3 2019 according to INS) is currently at 11 percent. Unlike the temporary nature of suspensions, the evolution of terminated employment contracts (143 percent increase compared to March 30), to almost 271,000 on April 29, is worrying. The number of unemployed (15-74 years old) also increased significantly in March to 410,000, with the unemployment rate increasing by 0.7 percentage points compared to February, to 4.6 percent.

In addition allowing companies to keep employees in technical unemployment, the government has also taken other measures to support local companies, such as: postponement of installments, SME Invest (applicable to only 40,000 companies - only 5 percent of the total companies that reported financial results in 2018) and the 10 percent bonus offered for the on-time payment of the quarterly tax. At the same time, the decision made by the central bank to buy government securities is the measure with the most significant positive impact.

However, the HR services industry needs new jobs, which can be passed through companies in the field. However, the pace of economic resumption depends largely on real government support, which motivates local companies to expand and hire.

KeysFin analysts believe that a massive, strategically well-targeted government investment programme is needed for manufacturing and services (to ensure local production of basic goods and services: food, equipment, health, education, and security), agriculture (given the unfavorable weather conditions), and especially to support the advancement of technology and digitalization in the Romanian economy. At the same time, a temporary reduction of taxes, if not a suspension following the model set by other European countries, would be a real breath of fresh air for the local business environment.

SME INVEST PROGRAM The government is trying to help small and medium companies through SME Invest (IMM Invest Romania). The state is helping companies get financing from banks with a guarantee that covers up to 90 percent of the loan value. There are two types of loans: investment credit and working capital credit. The maximum guaranteed ceiling is RON 15 billion, provided through the National SME Fund (FNCGIMM).

For working capital loans to medium-sized companies, the maximum value of the credit is RON 5 million and the state guarantees up to 80 percent of its value. The maximum financing period is 36 months, with a possible extension of another 36 months, and the interest rate is composed of ROBOR at 3 months + 2.5 percent per year, fully subsidised the state budget. The costs of granting, monitoring, and administering the guarantees granted in the name of the state will also be supported from the state budget. For small and micro enterprises, the maximum value of the loan is RON 1 million, and RON 500,000 respectively.

For investment loans, the value goes up to RON 10 million for medium enterprises, with maximum 80 percent guarantees from the state. The financing period is of 72 months, with a possible 18-month extension. The interest rate is ROBOR at 3 months + 2 percent per year, also subsidised by the state.

Within just a few days from the start of the programme, over 20,000 requests were sent to banks by the FNCGIMM. The maximum value of RON 15 billion for guarantees is expected to be reached quickly, which means that the state is likely to raise the ceiling for the programme.

Worldwide signs of solidarity against pandemic

“Music heals” is a universal truth that most of us have already experienced. Countless studies have shown that music can really be therapeutic. But what if those who bring you joy and happiness with their voices and instruments are being goodwill ambassadors? Will you help them reach wider audiences and get more support for the causes they believe in? It seems that we, as fans, are willing to support our favourite artists. Here’s how.

By Oana Vasiliu

#StayHome explained beautifully

LIVE AID: ONCE UPON A TIME It was 1984 when two musicians, Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, managed to raise money for anti-famine efforts in Ethiopia by releasing the song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” before the winter holidays. A bunch of top musicians of the time helped out with the release, and they continued to participate to this “challenge”, where the world would celebrate their love for music by donating to those in need. Live Aid was hardly the first internationally-minded charity concert, but it was certainly the most high-profile. And 30+ years later, it’s still the standard by which other all-hands-on-deck rock and charity events are judged. For one day – July 13, 1985 – an estimated 1.4 billion of the planet’s 5 billion people stopped and watched Bob Geldof’s incredible lineup and were treated to one of the biggest, most ambitious concerts ever staged. The press of the time wrote that at one point, 95 percent of the world’s television sets were tuned in to Live Aid – an even more incredible stat when you think of the fact that it happened before we had internet, cell phones, e-mail, text messaging, video streaming, and Twitter. It was pretty incredible. The 16 hours of music ultimately raised more than USD 200 million. Geldof earned himself a knighthood and swore that he would never attempt a sequel – a promise he broke when he staged Live 8 in 2005.

ONE WORLD: TOGETHER AT HOME Fast forward to March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic basically shut down everything across the world. No gigs, no live concerts, no openings acts, no premieres, no performances. No nothing, because the only way we could fight this virus was to practice social distancing. Still, there were insufficient funds, medical supplies and healthcare workers to fight back against this terrible pandemic.

To respond to this crisis, Lady Gaga curated over 100 artists for more than eight hours of live performance together with Global Citizen and the World Health Organisation. However, Lady Gaga later clarified that One World was not meant to be a fundraising telethon, the Guardian noted. Still, post-event, they announced that the show had raised USD 127 million for coronavirus relief efforts.

Stars’ live concerts were streamed from their homes as they self-isolated during the coronavirus crisis, including the Rolling Stones and Billie Eilish. Songs were interspersed with messages from actors such as Matthew McConaughey and Lupita Nyong’o, as well as figures like Michelle Obama and Oprah Winfrey, to name a few. It was unexpected, it didn’t have the effervescence of a live on-stage performance, but it showed that people we think of as superstars are human, grateful, but scared as well. This virus can affect anyone, as Pink recently stated, after she and her three-year-old son were diagnosed with coronavirus.

It couldn’t be as powerful as Live Aid because there was no real public, only virtual concertgoers, and they hadn’t even intended to do a live fundraising event - still, they

Together at home raised over USD 127 million

got money from those willing to donate to the cause. But Lady Gaga is definitely in Bob Geldof’s league, working with charities and fighting for the cause even before the pandemic.

THE ROMANIAN CHAPTER Up to this point, only Awake Festival has canceled its 2020 edition, while everyone else has been waiting to see what’s going to happen and what social distancing will mean for festival-goers. Bars and clubs are in the same situation; no one really knows how this is going to work. And considering that top worldwide music events have been postponed for next year, one can only imagine that this will happen here as well.

Still, initiatives from both the commercial and underground music sectors have started to appear. iaBilet has adapted to the market situation caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and launched vStage.ro, an online live streaming platform, dedicated to artists, those in creative or liberal professions, and all types of content creators. “If you are a musician or a stand-up comedian and you want your fans to see you live or perform for them, whether in a studio or elsewhere, you can sell tickets on www.iabilet.ro, just as you used to, and then your fans can go to vStage.ro at the specified time, enter the code on their ticket and enjoy the livestream,” says the project’s website.

The musical management, booking and PR agency Overground Music has launched Overground Showroom, a video library for concerts that offers a similar service to video streaming platforms. The catalogue contains live concerts from artists in Romania, recorded full HD and with high quality sound. The concerts will be available for streaming 24/7 and the revenue generated by the plat

form will go to the artists. For EUR 9 a month, the equivalent of a concert ticket, users have access to all the concerts in the online library, with new productions being added periodically.

Artists and content creators from Global Records and Virgin Radio Romania DJs spent Easter with their fans, on TikTok, at the first online charity festival, InDa House Festival. There were three full days, during which everyone made donations to the Zi de Bine Association, which fights against the COVID-19 pandemic, and had fun while learning new things. Nearly 300,000 people watched over 40 live shows during April 17-19, the hashtag #indahousefestival had over 50 million views in those three days, ranking first in trending, and the special filter created for the festival was used in thousands of videos made by TikTok users.

May 1 comes with another festival, SolidarLocal (Local Solidarity), the largest festival ever held in your living room, created to support medical staff who work on the front lines. Over 40 bands and artists including Umbra, AG Weinberger, Days of Confusion, Emeric Imre, Emilian, IOVA, Jean Gavril, Julie Mayaya, Jurjak, Just Another Lie, and Les Elephants Bizarres will be part of this festival, and you can join through a minimum donation of RON 30 to the Daruieste Viata Association, through iaBilet.ro. #GivingTuesdayNow, the global initiative, has moved to May 5, so Romania will cel

ebrate it with a one-of-a-kind seaside concert offered by Dan Byron, Lucia, Teodora Morosanu (Rockabella), osaciuc (Dimitri’s Bats), Doru Puscasu (man on the moon) and Catalin Milea. Since May 1 was usually a celebration day many Romanians spent at the seaside, we now celebrate it from home and together open the season of good deeds. You choose your own generous act, from a small donation to a cause you support to shopping for a neighbour or any other idea you may have.

Social distancing in the restaurant business: what’s next for this industry

On March 16 th Romanian

government officials announced that HORECA businesses would be closed in order to stop the spread of the coronavirus. As a result, some of the restaurants have moved their businesses online – either through takeaway platforms or by delivering food themselves. BR talked to several key figures from the HORECA industry to find out what’s next for them.

By Oana Vasiliu

It’s still unclear when restaurant businesses can re-open for public again

THE CURRENT SITUATION President Klaus Iohannis recently announced that authorities would lift the emergency measures on May 15, but there is no clear way forward for restaurant owners. Citizens will have to wear masks indoors, so opening restaurants is still out of discussion. According to the Labour Ministry, 1,035,585 employment contracts have been suspended since March 16, of which 112,714 were from HORECA businesses, both restaurants and hotels. While the prime minister has announced that hotels could open back up after May 15, there has been no news of when restaurants could reopen for the public.

However, it seems that everyone is ordering food online. For example, Romanian Revolut users of spent over EUR 12 million on food since the beginning of the quarantine period, with the number of transactions 43 percent higher than the previous month and a 54 percent increase in value, according to Revolut, the global financial platform with over 1 million users in Romania, with numbers published in mid-April for the March 14-April 14 period.

Moreover, the same source reveals that restaurant spending has dropped significantly while home delivery services have seen unprecedented growth. Revolut data shows that bars, restaurants, and fast food chains recorded the largest drops in the number of transactions made on their premises, with Starbucks (-94 percent), KFC (-90 percent) and McDonald’s (-75 percent) among the most severely affected. Although in restaurants the number of transactions has decreased by 88 percent, online takeaway platforms are on the rise. On average, the number of transactions has increased by 60 percent, while their value is up by 90 percent. Since Romanians can no longer go to restaurants, they order in using apps to enjoy their favourite dishes at home. While the number of orders through Glovo and Uber Eats has increased by about 50 percent, eucemananc.ro recorded the largest increase, with the number of orders almost doubling in the last month compared to the previous period (the number of transactions increased by 104 percent, and their value went up by 193 percent). However, UberEats announced that it is going to close the business in Romania starting June 3.

TRENDING INITIATIVES Since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak, a number of restaurants have been providing food for medical workers - Kane with the help of Mastercard and Kaufland, celebrity chef Adi Hadean’s project “Social solidarity/Solidar Social”, Kaiamo offering food for SMURD staff and local police, to name a few.

Several lists of local food producers can be found online, as well as information about how to reach or support them. One initiative with a global overview that includes the crisis in Romania was started by Ioana Negulescu, the founder of Food on our tables. “This is a project that aims to bring people from the food and beverage industry together, and enable them to share ideas, come up with new ones, and start a global conversation that could have a local effect. So far, we have had a series of workshops and roundtables - online, of course - with business owners from Romania, Austria, the Netherlands, and the US (more countries will be added very soon). We have also discussed the most pressing challenges the industry is facing at the moment and will face once this is over. Then, we started tackling these challenges one at a time, which we will continue to do over the next few weeks. All our conversations are recorded and summarised on foodonourtables.com, because transparency and the ability for these ideas to reach further into the industry are at the core of the initiative.”

Helping hands are also coming from ialoc. ro, the app that connects restaurant-goers and restaurants. Since the beginning of the crisis, they have transformed their platform, offering paid-in-advance vouchers to the public in order to support local restaurants. “More than 130 businesses are listed on CardCadou at the moment, of which 49 are restaurants and 44 are coffee shops. One month after launch, over 2,300 cards have been sold with an average value of EUR 10,” says Cosmin Magureanu, the CEO of IaLoc.ro.

A SPECIALIST’S VIEW Most HORECA business owners are probably asking themselves what there is to be done. Some advice is provided by Dragos Panait, founder of Next Root Management Systems. “First of all, they must make sure their businesses survive the crisis and this very much depends on what they do now, on whether they have identified new sources of income, how they handle costs, staff relations and commercial terms with landlords, suppliers, etc. Secondly, it’s about preparing for the economic restart that could happen

in May. (…) The industry has to prepare for consumers that will be more reluctant about spending money and will definitely expect more value for every RON they pay. We also have to anticipate working with half empty rooms because of social distancing and create business models that function even with limited resources and generate smaller costs. Optimisation will be a priority for owners and operators,” the consultant explains.

THE BUSINESSES Asked for comment regarding the government’s help for his business, Ionut Ivan, co-owner of Red Angus Steakhouse, explains that “Employees are the most valuable resource a restaurant has, so technical unemployment has helped, as it offered some support to businesses and staff members, in these complicated times. The urgency certificate could lead to a rent freeze, for the state of emergency period. Still, each partnership is different, and I think that measures depend more on the relationships between tenants and landlords.”

Chef Alexandru Dumitru, Gault & Millau’s Chef of the Year 2019 and also co-owner of also adding that “the greatest challenge will be simply surviving on the restaurant market,” due to the fact that it will be a long time before we will see dining rooms full of guests.

the recently opened Anika Restaurant, says that this situation should teach businesses “to be much more proactive and eliminate food waste – to make the most of every little ingredient we get our hands on. Shorter menus, seasonal ingredients are a must; a lot of vegetables and preserved foods should be used,”

BACK IN BUSINESS Slow recovery: this is the most common answer BR got from all the people we talked to. “I expect about 30 percent of restaurants not to reopen after the crisis, but I am also positive that new ones will appear. As for turnover, operators are making 80-90 percent less than usual, because of this freeze in activity,” adds Dragos Panait.

Furthermore, “The new restaurant landscape will be more competitive, and stakeholders will more harshly judge brands’ involvement in the community. Businesses will have to show consumers that they do not only deliver good food, but that they also support the general ecosystem, that they share their values and principles. Service will also be an important part of the restaurant experience and the connection between guest and server will impact the way businesses are perceived and their levels of success and loyalty,” says Ionut Ivan from Red Angus Steakhouse.

More innovation & optimism during the pandemic

Several Romanian companies have shifted their workflows to help the country deal with the pandemic, and their initiatives are really making a difference.

By Oana Vasiliu

Photo: Auchan

Auchan/ Leroy Merlin hospital is opened for treating COVID-19 cases

LIFTING RESTRICTIONS Romanians will be allowed to move freely after May 15, president Klaus Iohannis announced in a press statement on April 22. Starting May 15, authorities will lift some of the restrictions imposed during the state of emergency to limit the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. However, protection masks will become mandatory in all indoor public spaces and on public transport for as long as necessary. Other restrictions, such as the ban on public events, will remain in force, the president said. By the time BR went to press, no additional information had been provided on this matter.

DONATIONS One of the biggest controversies online was a statement by Romania’s Labour minister Violeta Alexandru, who in a Facebook post wrote about the “feeble” support the government had received from local communities and NGOs in its efforts to fight the pandemic. It sparked a lot of anger, because so far, companies and individuals in Romania have donated over EUR 20 million, not to mention the value of products that many companies have offered - from food to medical supplies. courtyard of the Elias Hospital in Bucharest to treat COVID-19 patients. The plan for the hospital was developed together with partners Tesseract, IMSAT, and Linde. It will accommodate approximately 50 beds for serious cases and it’s currently a work in progress.

Another medical facility for for non-critical patients has opened in the Mogosoaia area, a courtesy of Auchan and Leroy Merlin, with the support of the Health Ministry and the Department of Emergency Situations (DSU). A building belonging to Leroy Merlin has been transformed into a reception, triage, accommodation, and preliminary treatment centre for coronavirus patients, while more serious cases will be transferred to other hospital units. The inauguration took place on April 24 and was attended by the Romanian president.

MORE MEDICAL SUPPLIES After a lack of medical supplies hit the entire planet, Romania found local companies to produce medical masks. Techtex started out making 150,000 medical masks per day, and from April 15, its production has increased to 500,000 masks per day. They are also manufacturing surgical suits, with a current daily capacity of 1,000 products.

Pope Francis has donated five pulmonary ventilators and protective equipment to the county hospital in Suceava, the hardest-hit region in Romania. The pope’s gesture is a sign

The new modular hospital from Daruieste Viata NGO

of solidarity with COVID-19 patients, but also of support for medical staff working in the largest hotspot of the pandemic in Romania, according to Vatican News. 200 overalls, 900 FFP2 masks, and 5,000 sanitary masks were brought in Romania by the doctors and nurses who voluntarily travelled to the Lombardy region for a month to help out in the Italian medical crisis.

INNOVATION An air sterilization device invented by researchers at Timisoara Polytechnic University has been prototyped for local hospitals that could use it in the fight against the coronavirus. The prototype has reached the lab testing phase, and preliminary results have been promising, the university announced. They also mentioned that intensive care doctors already appreciated the product. The device is currently being tested in a laboratory on an intensive care ventilator. The Oncogen Institute will provide the necessary infrastructure for microbiological tests. “Research groups from the Polytechnic University of Timisoara have developed the prototype of a device that sterilizes the air exhaled by patients, which can be used in intensive care units, and could be especially useful now, in the fight against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, but also in other circumstances,” the university wrote on its Facebook page.