Tuesday, June 30th 2020

The fourth stage of restriction relaxation, that was supposed to start tomorrow, could be postponed

The fourth stage of restriction relaxation, that was supposed to be implemented tomorrow, could be postponed because of the unfavorable epidemic evolution, while many Romanians fail to respect sanitary protection rules. Health Minister Nelu Tătaru said, last night, in an interview for DIGI24, that specialists in the Technical-Scientific Group recommended not to eliminate any more restrictions.

Nelu Tătaru: These two weeks we have seen a rise in the number of new cases, a rise in the number of cases in the UTI, a rise in the number of deaths and the Technical Group has decided to postpone the fourth stage of relaxation. If the evolution becomes favorable, we consider other restrictions to be imposed, punctually, the isolation of the epidemic center, imposing a quarantine in the area.

Decisions concerning the next stage of relaxation will be made tomorrow, by the executive. One of the long-awaited measures was opening the restaurants.

 

Extremely sophisticated experiment made by researchers from ELI-NP, at Măgurele

At the International Research Center ELI-NP from Măgurele, a team of researchers from Romania, Japan, Italy and Germany confirmed, on an experimental basis, a rare phenomenon of nuclear physics, described in theory in 1937 by Maria Goeppert-Mayer, laureated in 1963 with the Nobel Prize for Physics. Initial results, published five years ago in Nature magazine by a team form the Nuclear Physics Institute from the Technical University in Darmstadt, have now been confirmed by an international team of researchers, most of them from the ELI-NP. And this is not just a confirmation, it’s about improving the data processing software, about precise measurements and reinterpreting the results. Results have been published by “Nature Communications” on Friday, 26th of June.

Nicolae – Victor Zamfir is the director of the ELI-NP Center from Măgurele.

Nicolae – Victor Zamfir: The experiment done by the ELI-PN researchers is a very sophisticated experiment which tests a partially confirmed theoretical hypothesis of photon emission in the process of deexcitation of the atomic nucleus but the supposition that has been used so far proved to be wrong. The ELI-NP researchers demonstrated that it is done through a radiation specifical to the atomical nucleus that is pretty strange as far as the structure of the nucleus is concerned. Why is this an important discovery? First, it is something extremely new in the study of the atomic nucleus, therefore the way we look at the evolution of this system of neutrons and protons. And second, for us it has a very practical meaning. The experimental assemblies built for the experiments for the ELI-NP are thought to cope with extremely delicate experiments and this experiment proved that one of the assemblies works perfectly.

REPORTER: Can we think about a practical impact of the experiment?

Nicolae – Victor Zamfir: This, in particular, has an impact over the study of materials, the behavior of different materials. There are new properties, extremely sophisticated, in the physics of the materials.

Reporter: Materials used where? In space industry? In extreme environments?

Nicolae – Victor Zamfir: Materials are everywhere, from telephones and minicomputers, the communication system, the IT system, so materials are very important nowadays.

 

The situation of the coronavirus infections in Romania and measures to be taken by the population

Up until today, Romania has confirmed 26,970 infections with the new coronavirus. Among confirmed cases, 19,050 people have been declared cured and left the hospitals. Bucharest declared the highest number of cases of SARS-CoV-2, followed by Braşov, Maramureş and Prahova.

Doctors warn that if we don’t respect rules to prevent infections, the number of new cases may continue to rise. Today, 388 new cases have been declared for the last 24 hours. Also, lately, the number of new cases is higher than that of people who recover. Alexandru Rafila, the President of the Romanian Society of Microbiology, talked about the problems that may occur in the body due to the new coronavirus.

Measures we have to respect to prevent the spread of the virus are simple: wear a mask indoor and in crowded areas, even if they are outdoor, wash our hands with water and soap or disinfect them with special solutions and stay two meters apart from each other.