Portugal Situation Report Saturday 3rd April 2021
Introduction
Good morning – Phase 2 of de-confinement is going ahead in al municipalities as from Monday 5th April. This eagerly awaited step will allow us to enjoy many activities: for instance going to restaurants (terraces only) and visiting certain shops that have been closed for some time, although there will of course be certain limitations in place.
We outlined the details of the de-confinement plan on our website, as well as publishing this on our Facebook page on Thursday night, upon the conclusion of the Council of Ministers meeting. Clearly of interest it reached around 28,000 people.
There was also however a condition in this as set out by the Prime Minister, as there were 19 municipalities where the incidence rate was 120 and above i.e. ‘over the government red line’ announced in mid-March. More details are expected to be set out in the decree law expected to be published today or in the next day or so.
The Prime Minister warned that the next stages of deflation i.e. Phase 3 due for 19th April and beyond, would be dependent on the risk assessment of each municipality. If any municipality registers, in two consecutive evaluations, a transmissibility index greater than 1 and an incidence of new cases per 100 thousand inhabitants greater than 120, it will not advance in the next phase of deflation. There is concern however of the increasing R (t) rate which is reported as over 1 in some areas – linking this to the first phase of de-confinement.
This is a very clear message and incentive for all of us to redouble our efforts to contain this disease. With every stage of de-confinement comes an increase in movement and with that an increase in risk. If that risk materialises into higher cases and increased hospitalisations for instance, we can expect government to apply the brake quickly.
Being under confinement for such a long time, it is natural and human nature that people will venture out more and we will see on Monday many more people around on the streets. In the desire to make use of our new found freedom we must play by the rules and not exploit them.
This means the wearing of facemasks where required, avoid gatherings except in accordance with the law, respect social distancing and ensure compliance with hygiene requirements. For instance at restaurants, cafés and snack bars for food service on terraces, there is a limit of four people per table – this means no dragging of tables and chairs together thereby increasing these numbers. This would increase the risk and of course the likelihood of the owner being fined if caught.
If everyone follows the rules then this will mean we can progress to Phase 3 on time on 19th April as scheduled. It is in our hands.
As we have stated in our previous morning reports, people should read information only provided by trusted sources and of course this includes Safe Communities Portugal. It came as a surprise therefore yesterday that some people still thought that the travel ban between municipalities finishes at 5am on 5th April – which is incorrect. Irrespective of the fact we have published the correct time i.e. 23:59 hrs on 5th April, people were quoting media sources as stating something else. This is why it is important to follow our page so you are correctly informed.
We take as much care as we can to provide the correct information from official sources and that includes the decree laws themselves. No one is immune to mistakes but if we make one we correct it immediately
Believe or not there are still people around who think there is a weekend curfew starting at 13:00 hrs even though this was discontinued in January!
Lastly, I would like to thank our Safe Communities volunteers who, over the last few days, answered many of your question and spent many hours identifying, researching, verifying and translating various articles, laws and other information often working very late at night. I can assure from personal experience this results in disruption to their family lives: so thank you Fernanda Gonçalves, Eliana Taveras, Mike Evans, Jennie Kelly and others for your work. I also thank John Cobby, a statistician by profession, for the weekly Covid-19 tables he is producing and Mark Fielding, the former Defence Attaché to the British Embassy in Madrid, for the weekly Vaccine report.
With that have a Very safe weekend.
Headlines
Second phase of the de-confinement plan advances next Monday.
Portugal can “take the step forward” with the measures of deflation planned for next Monday, April 5, said the Prime Minister on Thursday at the end of the Council of Ministers. António Costa explained that “the combined application of the two criteria” – incidence and transmission rate of Covid-19 – keeps Portugal “clearly in the green quadrant”.
On Monday, stores with doors to the street with less than 200 square meters no longer have to sell at the entrance and are now able to have their doors open to the public, for, according to the rotation and the rules of the Directorate- General of Health, to be able to provide face-to-face assistance.
Restaurants, pastry shops and cafes with a terrace can reopen, with groups limited to four people.
As of Monday, it will be possible to buy clothes and other goods whose sale was prohibited in hypermarkets, due to competition reasons, since it will also be possible to buy them in street stores that have up to 200 m2.
In this second phase of de-confinement, the gymnasiums will also reopen, but still without authorization for group classes. Low-risk sports are now permitted, while sporting events will continue to take place without the presence of an audience.
Covid-19 Situation Report
This Friday Portugal counts another 9 deaths and 548 new cases of Covid-19, according to the daily report of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS). The detailed figures are:
Confirmed Cases: 822.862 (+ 548 / + 0.07 %)
Number of admitted: 513 (-25 /-4.65 %)
Number of ICU admitted: 131 (+ 2 / + 1.55 %)
Deaths: 16.868 (+ 9 / + 0.05 %)
Recovered: 779.655 (+ 743 / + 0.10 %)
Active cases: 26,339 (-204 /-0.7%)
Safe Communities comparisons/trends: show that deaths lower than yesterday; new cases were slightly below recorded the day before, but above the average of the last seven days (419) and that recoveries were more than new cases
The number of Covid-19 patients in hospital is the lowest since 20th September, 6,459 less compared to number in hospital on 1st February, although the number in ICU grew very slightly but is still the second lowest since 12th October 2020. Active cases is the lowest since 2nd October, decreasing by 155,284 cases since 31st January 2021, and those under surveillance is the lowest since August 2020.
Despite all this good news it is important not to let our guard down at this crucial time. Those in hospital and ICU remain high. This means complying with the rules in place, – wearing face masks, social distancing, hygiene and no social gatherings.
Health
Covid-19: Transmissibility and incidence index increases compared to Wednesday.
Lisbon, April 2, 2021 (Lusa) – The transmissibility index of the new coronavirus in Portugal yesterday rose to 0.97, with the incidence also rising to 65.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, according to official data.
In the last two joint bulletins from the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) and the National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), the transmissibility index (Rt) in Portugal had remained at 0.94.
As for the incidence, the average national value of infection cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days is now 65.6, after having dropped from 70 to 65.3 in the last bulletin.
Looking only at Mainland, the incidence is 62.9 cases, also rising compared to Wednesday, when that figure was 62.4.
These indicators are the criteria defined by the Government for the continuous assessment of the deflationary process started on March 15.
However, the transmissibility index of SARS-CoV-2 (Rt) is increasing and the National Institute of Health Ricardo Jorge (INSA) even estimates that it will reach 1.02 on Sunday, the highest value since January. Various regions such as the Algarve are higher.
The data appears in the situation report published this Friday, which reads that “the average value of Rt for the days from 24/03/2021 to 03/28/2021 was 0.97, and its true value may be between 0.96 and 0.99”.
Also this Friday’s report from the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) pointed to an increase in the transmission rate: from 0.94 on Wednesday to 0.97 in today’s bulletin.
Óscar Felgueiras , a mathematician who has supported the Government in monitoring the epidemic, estimates that next Monday’s bulletin may even report an Rt above 1, admitting that this could be a result of two weeks of de-confinement Phase 1.
Covid-19: 150,000 teaching and non-teaching workers will be tested between April 5 and 9.
The information was announced today by the Government shortly after António Costa confirmed that the “dropper” deflation (de-confinement plan) will continue next Monday, April 5.
“About 150 thousand teaching and non-teaching workers will be tested between April 5th and 9th, continuing the implementation of the National Test Strategy for SARS-CoV-2 and according to the well-known joint guidance from last March “, can be read in the note sent to the newsrooms.
The statement emphasizes that the information already transmitted to schools, underlining “that all teaching staff (DP) and non-teaching staff (PND) from the 2nd and 3rd cycles of basic education (from 5th to 9th will be tested) .the year) of establishments in all municipalities “.
The note adds that the “totality of DP and PND of Pre-School Education, 1st cycle of basic education, as well as all the workers of Activities of Animation and Support to the Family (AAAF), Activities of Curriculum Enrichment (AEC) and Family Support Component in the 1st cycle of Basic Education in municipalities with an incidence rate greater than 120 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants in the last 14 days”.
Covid-19. Netherlands suspend AstraZeneca vaccine in people under 60.
The Netherlands has suspended injections of the AstraZeneca vaccine into people under the age of 60, after cases of blood clots have occurred, according to health authorities. “The immediate cause for this decision is the notification of cases of thrombosis associated with low platelet count after vaccinations”, justified the public health service.
“We have to be careful, so it is advisable to press the pause button as a precautionary measure”, considered the Minister of Health, Hugo de Jonge.
As a result, some 10,000 vaccinations, which were scheduled for next week, to members of the Dutch health services under the age of 60 were postponed.
The suspension is expected to last until 7 April, when the European Medicines Agency (EMA) will give further guidance on the matter.
Earlier in the week, Germany made a similar decision. In France, the family of a 38-year-old woman who died of a thrombosis after receiving the first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine demanded an investigation, her lawyer told Agence France-Presse.
“It is a complaint against X, because we have no evidence against an identified person for manslaughter,” explained Étienne Boittin, adding that this qualification can “evolve according to the elements of the file”.
The lawyer said that the family “is not in the process of claiming or charging for liabilities, it just wants clarification” about what happened “.
The young woman had been vaccinated in mid-March, as she worked at a medical-educational institute for the disabled, and did not suffer from any specific health problems, she added.
Minister criticizes “perverse and unjust effect” of altering social support.
The Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, said this Friday that the change to social support made by parliament and promulgated by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has a “perverse and unfair effect”.
“The amendment that was approved in the context of parliamentary appreciation, what it does, essentially, is to change in a way and with a perverse and unfair effect the support system and the protection system within the scope of Social Security”, said Ana Mendes Godinho in press conference on the balance of social support, which took place this Friday at the Ministry of Labour, in Lisbon.
According to the official, the amendment will “index the support to the value of the worker’s billing and not to the relevant income for Social Security”, becoming “completely disconnected from contributions made in the past to Social Security”.
“It establishes an equal amount of the benefit for people who discounted over 70% or for people who discounted over 20% of the billing they had”, with no changes in the population of people covered, said the minister.
Ana Mendes Godinho believes that “there hasn’t been a perception yet, and people haven’t realized exactly what is on the table”.
According to the statement, the impact on Social Security accounts when changing the method of accounting for support will be 40.4 million euros.
Rate of organ damage increased in infected is high.
Researchers suggest that the weight of Covid-19-related diseases in hospitals and healthcare systems will increase in the long term.
People infected with Covid-19 and discharged from the hospital appear to have increased rates of organ damage (multiorgan dysfunction) compared to the general population, according to a study published Thursday by the British medical journal BMJ.
The increased risk, according to the study, was not limited to older people nor was it uniform across ethnic groups, leading researchers to suggest that the weight of Covid-19- related illnesses in hospitals and in the long term will increase.
Although Covid-19, a disease caused by a new coronavirus, is best known for causing severe respiratory problems it can also affect other systems and organs in the body, including the heart, kidneys and liver.
Those responsible for the study indicate the existence of several unexplained symptoms that persist for more than three months after the disease, but also say that the long-term pattern of organ damage after infection is still unclear.
To investigate the issue, British researchers from the National Institute of Statistics and the universities of London (“College London”) and Leicester sought to compare the rates of organ dysfunction in people with several months of hospital discharge after the disease, with a control group, corresponding to the general population.
The conclusions are based on 47,780 people, with an average age of 65 years and 55% of whom are men, who were hospitalised and were discharged up until August 31 of last year.
During the average 140-day follow-up, almost a third of individuals discharged after acute Covid-19 were readmitted to the hospital (14,060 out of 47,780) and more than one in 10 (5,875) died after discharge. Values four and eight times higher, respectively, than in the control group.
The rates of respiratory, cardiovascular and diabetes diseases also increased significantly in patients with Covid-19, which were also higher than in the control group, especially in the case of respiratory diseases.
Differences in rates of multi-organ dysfunction between Covid-19 patients and combined controls were greater for individuals under 70 than those aged 70 or over, and in ethnic minority groups compared to the white population, with the biggest differences observed for respiratory diseases.
Other news
Eurovision – Canção de Portugal is in the highest place so far in bookmakers.
Love Is on My Side’, the Black Mamba song that represents Portugal at the Eurovision Festival, reached the highest 
place in the bookmakers’ ranking since it won the national competition.
Less than two months before the grand final of Eurovision, ‘Love Is on My SIde’, a song by the Black Mamba that will represent Portugal, reached the highest place in the ranking of bookmakers.
According to the Eurovisionworld website, which compiles the results of 17 bookmakers, Portugal is the 25th among 39 competitors, having remained there since 28 March.
Since winning the Song Festival, the Portuguese representation has occupied in this ranking the places in the second half of the table, between the 22nd (on the day of victory in the national competition, a place that is not indicative, since a good part of the songs competitors was not yet known) and 29th place (on March 15th)).