Fast Sea Transit Between Monaco and its New Port in Ventimiglia and other Monaco news
This week in Monaco was all about the Monte Carlo Rally and new developments on Covid-19 measures. And you are afraid you might miss anything interesting, stay with HelloMonaco.
Fast Sea Transit Between Monaco and its New Port in Ventimiglia
Monaco is backing up its investment in its new port in Ventimiglia with a futuristic shuttle service to cover the 10 nautical miles between it and the Principality. It’s a powerhouse and therefore fast too at up to 50 knots and shaped like an airplane wing.
The navette is a catamaran equipped with two engines of 350 horsepower capable of carrying 12 people on each trip between the nearby Italian City of Ventimiglia and the Principality. The newly extended port facility has only just been inaugurated this past October.
About to Unfold in 2021: the Revered Monegasque Celebrations of Saint Devote
This tradition, celebrated on January 26th and January 27th each year results from the legend known as the “Legend of Saint Devote” transmitted by a medieval document. It holds a privileged place in the heart of Monegasques.
According to this legend, Devota (Devotee), a young Christian native of Corsica, was martyred by the prefect Barbarus under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian. Her body was allegedly stolen by the faithful during the night following her martyrdom and put in a boat, to be buried in North Africa (then Christian land). Contrary winds having pushed the boat, it was in Monaco that it was buried in the valley known as “des Gaumates”, on January 27 of the year 303 or 304.
Brexit and VAT: Consequences of the UK Leaving the European Union
Due to the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, as of 1 January 2021, the terms for intra-Community transactions carried out between Monaco and the United Kingdom are from now on replaced by the terms for import and export from or to a third country.
Unlike intra-Community transactions, import and export transactions require specific declarations to be submitted to the Customs and Excise Department when the transactions in question are carried out.
Extra Support for Employees On Sick Leave While Awaiting PCR Testing & Results
The Prince’s Government suspends the three-day waiting period in the event of sick leave for PCR screening. This measure takes effect from January 15, 2021 until February 15, 2021.
Concretely, when an employee or civil servant of the Principality is prescribed a work stoppage due to sick leave pending the completion of a PCR screening test, he will receive daily allowances paid as appropriate by the CCSS or the SPME from the first day of shutdown.
Italian restaurants and cafes raise their voice to overcome an unsustainable situation
One of the outstanding Italian excellence is at risk! In Italy, the whole catering sector is at the limit of survival. Made of 285 thousand companies scattered throughout the “Bel Paese”, the Italian food & beverage industry represents a true flagship of the most tasteful and diversified gastronomy in the world as well as of one of the best ‘savoir-faire’ welcoming attitude ever experienced. That represents also an important part of national GDP, employing more than a million people with an annual turnover of EUR 60 billion per year, in normal times. Since the first severe lockdown in Spring 2020, the situation has been getting worse and worse making Italian restaurants, cafeterias, gelaterie, pizzerie and gourmet take-away among the most affected commercial activities within the pandemic economic crisis.
Monte-Carlo Rally Adapts in Face of Covid-19
The first Monte Carlo Rally was run over 100 years ago in 1911 when cars were luxury items only within the reach of the rich and famous. Thought of at that time as “cars without horses” even an Olympic sprinter might have been able to overtake them as the average speed was about 22kms per hour. There was plenty of excitement too, with a German from Berlin arriving first in Monaco only to his ire being pipped on a points system by the Frenchman Rougier. 2021 will see the 89th Monte Carlo Rally, still thriving as the oldest and most prestigious of all.
New Aid for businesses in Le Rocher
The government has stepped in during a difficult time by granting additional aid for businesses in Monaco’s tourism hotspot, the Rocher. From now on 50% of rent will be covered by the state.
Monday 18 January was Blue Monday, said to be the most depressing day of the year. The day (typically the third Monday of January) was named in 2005 by a UK travel company. The down time after the excitement of the holidays is usually quiet and difficult for many people, but this year it has been even more difficult due to the ongoing pandemic.
Two positive cases of Covid-19 among children at the Stella School
A first-year child at the Ecole Stella nursery school tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday 18 January, following intra-family contamination. The child has been removed from school in line with the procedure recommended by the Monegasque health authorities.
As PCR tests are not carried out on nursery school pupils, and as these pupils are not required to wear masks due to their young age, the Prince’s Government has decided, as a precautionary measure, that all pupils in the class concerned must remain absent from school from Tuesday 19/01/2021 until Sunday 24/01/2021 inclusive.
New photo exhibition along St-Martin gardens in Monaco inaugurated by Prince Albert II
After spending three months along the gates of UNESCO’s headquarters in Paris, the photographic exhibition ‘Protecting UNESCO’s World Marine Heritage through Scientific Research’, made up of 21 photographs from the Monaco Explorations missions, is on display along the gates of the St-Martin gardens, from 7 January to 1 March 2021 in Monaco. The exhibition is also available online. The exhibition was inaugurated in the presence of the HSH Prince Albert II on January 20th.
What Clues to the Covid-19 Epidemic Lie in Monaco’s Waste-Water?
Did you know that there are back-up ways to test for the presence of Covid-19 in communities other than individual testing. Researchers have been investigating if waste residue such as in the sewer system would yield traces of the virus and if that would give clues as to the rate of infection. The answer is that there are indeed traces of the virus.
