COVID-19 pandemic

President Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday that most schools will reopen on February 8, adding that it is a return to the system that takes into account local developments in the COVID-19 pandemic.      "The subject was whether or not we open schools for in-person learning, and I can tell you that we, who took part in the discussion, reached an extremely important conclusion unanimously.

Senior officials of the World Health Organization have warned that  there is a real chance of another, more serious pandemic spreading across the world, in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

China recorded its first COVID-19 death in eight months on Jan. 14, as experts huddled to discuss worrying new strains of the coronavirus that are spreading rapidly around the globe.

The gathering in Geneva of the World Health Organization's emergency committee comes as their colleagues landed in Wuhan for a long-delayed mission to find the origins of the virus.

The Chinese authorities have announced the lockdown of the cities of Shijiazhuang, Xingtai and Langfang with a total population of over 23 mln due to a new coronavirus outbreak, according to the Hebei province's health committee.

The Romanian government approved at a meeting on Tuesday extending by 30 days the state of alert in Romania from January 13. According to a governmental press statement, the decision on extending the state of alert and establishing measures to be applied during it to prevent and combat the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic was adopted as placed on the agenda of the government meeting.

Around 200,000 people visited Turkey's ancient site of Göbeklitepe, known as the world's oldest temple, in 2020 despite the coronavirus pandemic, according to officials.

Ten World Health Organization scientists will visit China from Thursday to probe the origins of COVID-19, authorities said, more than a year after the pandemic began and amid accusations Beijing delayed the investigation.

The WHO team "will conduct joint research cooperation on the origins of covid 19 with Chinese scientists," the National Health Commission said in a statement.

Fearing a fierce, long-lasting new wave of the coronavirus pandemic, health experts say the next two months will be critical in the effort to save the year, given that even the most well-organized health systems of many countries are already buckling under pressure.

The US state of California is trying to recover from the coronavirus pandemic, but last week alone, 2.500 people died from COVID-19, far more than in any other state, and the morgues are full.

According to preliminary adjusted data, retail trade in November contracted by 6.4% compared to a year earlier and increased by 1.2% compared to October, according to the National Statistical Institute.

On an annual basis, trade in food, beverages and tobacco products decreased the most - by 14.4%, and trade in automotive fuels and lubricants - by 15.8%.