Situation Report Azores – 1st May 2021
From our colleague in the Azores
1st Phase of Vaccinations
The first phase of the vaccination plan against Covid-19 in the Azores is “practically completed”, with only bedridden patients and others that it has not yet been possible to contact, said the regional director of Health.
“This week, the first phase of the vaccination process will be practically completed, with the exception of some vaccinations at home.
According to the vaccination portal against Covid-19 in the Azores, 79,589 doses of vaccines against Covid-19 have already been administered to 56,419 people (22.9% of the population, according to the 2011 census), of which 23,170 with two doses (9.4%).
According to the Regional Director of Health, since Thursday alone, 9,500 doses of vaccines against covid-19 have been administered in the Azores.
“The process is starting to accelerate in the Autonomous Region of the Azores and what is expected for next month is that we have a greater number of vaccines arriving in the region”, he stressed.
Berto Cabral regretted, however, the delay in the arrival in the Azores of 10,000 doses of vaccines from AstraZeneca, which should have arrived this week and are now scheduled for the next.
The regional director said the region also continues to await information on the date and quantity of Janssen’s first batch of vaccines, with only 46,800 doses of Pfizer confirmed for the month of May.
The second phase of vaccination has already started in the Azores, but Berto Cabral appealed to people over 75 years old and with pathologies integrated in the first phase, who have not been contacted or vaccinated, to contact their health centres.
Measures Maintained
The Regional Government announced yesterday that, despite the end of the state of emergency, the restrictive measures are maintained for the entire island of São Miguel with the objective of “safeguarding public health”, legally framing the decision in the Legal Regime of Civil Protection of the Region Autonomous of the Azores, in the Basic Law of Health and in the Legal Regime of the Public Health Authority.
Rt Nationwide
According to the weekly report of the ‘National Institute of Health’ on the evolution of the covid-19 epidemic curve, the Rt – an indicator that estimates the number of secondary cases of covid-19 resulting from an infected person – is 1.04 in Madeira.
The North and the Centre have a Coronavirus transmission rate of 1, while Lisbon and Vale do Tejo and the Alentejo are at 0.96, the Algarve at 0.89 and the Azores at 0.87.
“Portugal presents the accumulated notification rate of 14 days between 60 and 119.9 [cases of covid-19] per 100 thousand inhabitants and an Rt below 1, that is, a moderate notification rate and with a decreasing trend”, further advances INSA.
According to the data released today, between April 9th and 25th, “there was a sharp reduction in Rt”, which went from 1.08 to 0.96 in this period, which indicates a “decreasing trend in the incidence of SARS-CoV-2.
Regarding the accumulated incidence rate, the report states that all regions of the country have values below 120 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, with the exception of the Azores, which is at 120.7.
The North has a rate of 79.9, the Centre 41.1, Lisbon and Tagus Valley 57.8, the Alentejo 59.4, the Algarve 84.9 and Madeira 112.5.
These indicators – the rate of transmissibility of the virus and the rate of incidence of new cases of covid-19 – are the two criteria defined by the Government for the continuous assessment that of the process of deflation that began on March 15 and which continues the beginning of the fourth phase of easing restrictions.
Covid-19
The Regional Health Authority has said that in the last three days the number of new positive cases of Covid-19 resulting from 6,117 tests is 56. These tests were carried out in reference laboratories in the Region, in private laboratories with conventions, in the Regional Health Service, through rapid tests (mass screening), in the laboratory of Terceira University and by means of tests carried out in the scope of occupational medicine.
São Miguel registered most of the cases with 55. Santa Maria had 1.
There have been some recoveries, 63 in total. Most of them on the island of São Miguel with 60. Terceira had 3.
15 patients are now hospitalized, 14 in the Hospital do Divino Espírito Santo in Ponta Delgada, with three in the Intensive Care Unit, and one in the Hospital of Santo Espírito on the Terceira Island, in the Intensive Care Unit. On active surveillance are 1,140 people.
As of today, the Region has 220 active positive cases, 212 in São Miguel, four in Terceira, three in Santa Maria and one in Flores. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 4,893 positive cases of covid-19 have been diagnosed in the Azores, and 4,521 people have recovered from the disease. 31 died, 78 left the archipelago and 43 presented proof of previous healing.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 446,996 tests have been carried out in the Azores to screen for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes covid-19 disease. The island of São Miguel is at High Risk level, subject to containment measures corresponding to this level of risk. All municipalities in the remaining islands are at Very Low Risk level.
As of 12:00 am tomorrow, Saturday, the measures to contain the pandemic, resulting from the end of the State of Emergency in Portugal, will be altered and adapted to the epidemiological reality of the Region. More information can be obtained online at: https://covid19.azores.gov.pt/ and on the Facebook page of the Regional Health Directorate: https://www.facebook.com/DirecaoSaudeAcores
Since December 31, 2020 and until April 29, 79,589 doses of vaccine against covid-19 have been administered in the Azores, corresponding to 56,419 people aged 15 years and over, with the first dose (27.85% coverage rate), and 23,170 people with both doses (11.44% coverage rate), within the scope of the Regional Vaccination Plan.
More information at: https://vacinacao-covid19.azores.gov.pt.