Portugal Situation Report Saturday 8^th May 2021

 

Introduction

Good morning – The news over the last day or so is very positive: with continued reduction in transmission and incidence rates; the continuing reduction in hospital and ICU cases; vaccinations reaching 100,000 per day ahead of schedule; the reduction in the number of municipalities that are not at the last phase of de-confinement, and the announcement by the UK yesterday evening the Portugal has been included in its so called Green List concerning travel from England”

This is a very positive start to the weekend and good news for Portugal.
Not everything runs to clockwork in crisis situations, there are bound to be setbacks, but over the last few days it has been generally positive. In the lead up to the Council of Ministers meeting there was the usual speculation, this time being the changes concerning the movement of municipalities forward, back and remaining where they are. The end result is that in the entire country there are now only four municipalities not in the final phase, plus the two parishes of Odemira, where at present a health cordon remains in place.

This means of course, coupled with the reopening of the border with Spain, that the number of movements have increased considerably and with that the potential risk of the spread of Covid-19. However so far in the last week this has not materialised – in fact transmission and incidence rates have fallen to the lowest levels since March. With this good news it would be easy to become complacent and let our guard down. However we are not yet at a stage of normality. Vaccinations, although progressing well will still take some months before we are at a state of immunity, and there are variants to be aware off, which are being monitored very closely. Social distancing, hygiene, the wearing of face masks will be with us for some time until a stage where the risk is minimalised, allowing a return to a normal lifestyle.

Yesterday UK’s Transport Secretary Grant Shapps yesterday announced the list of countries on the Green List which includes Portugal (including Madeira and Azores). He said the list will be reviewed every three weeks from reopening. However, some green list countries may continue to place restrictions on UK travellers, including quarantine measures, so passengers are encouraged to check all requirements and FCDO travel advice before they book any foreign travel.
From the UK perspective, as we understand it at the moment, anyone travelling from England to a “green” list destination will have to have a negative PCR test before they leave and provide one for when they return home.

Currently Portugal is only allowing UK arrivals into Portugal for essential reasons and the current Order is due to expire 23.59 hrs 16^th May 2021. Yesterday the President of Regional Tourism Algarve João Fernandes, stated “It is important that Portugal, in the next review of the state of calamity, does not condition travel to Portugal only for essential trips. That will be decisive”. We await an update from the Portuguese Government as to when and if this decree will change

I earlier mentioned media speculation, but also in the last few days we have noticed several negative news headlines, which bear little resemblance to the actual story. Nothing new in this, but it seems a pity at a time when we are clearly moving forward, tabloid journalism creates an atmosphere of negativity sometimes based on apparent poor research.  Also there has been some question marks as to accuracy and it seems that in the rush to create headline news, some of the fundamental elements of journalism are being lost, namely validating where possible and credibility of sources. We often at Safe Communities hold back on information to try and ensure as much accuracy as possible, even if that means not being first with the news.

Anyway with that let’s have a positive and Safe Weekend

 

Headlines

Covid-19: Costa says that problems are in the production of vaccines and regulation of the medicine market

The Prime Minister considers that the fundamental problems in access to vaccines against covid-19, more than in the lifting of patents, are in the production capacity and in the regulation of the drug market worldwide. “The crucial problem is focused on production capacity. And there is a fundamental problem related to the regulation of the medicine market and that States have to organize themselves globally to find other ways with the pharmaceutical industry to finance research” , stated António Costa in an interview with Lusa.
Faced with the proposal of an international movement led by India and South Africa in favour of the release of patents on vaccines against covid-19, the leader of the Portuguese executive admits this debate.

However, for the Prime Minister of Portugal, a country that presides over the Council of the European Union (EU) until the end of June, the problem in India and other countries “is not precisely in the holding or not holding of the patent, but in the capacity to have increased production capacity on a global scale “. “There is a fundamental problem with the pharmaceutical industry, which is one of the few where funding for fundamental research is provided predominantly by private funding. It has been the case in the pharmaceutical industry over the years and, therefore, this remuneration of research costs is then made ‘a posteriori’ in the payment of the price “of the medicine or vaccine, points out António Costa.

In the Prime Minister’s view, “this situation” creates a very complex problem on a global scale. “Since the income gap between countries is brutal, the cost of a medicine that is accessible to us in Europe can be absolutely unbearable in other countries, with income levels that are much lower than ours,” he says. Regarding the problem generated by the fight against the pandemic, the Prime Minister points out that “the concrete issue is fundamentally centred on a problem of supply capacity”.
“In the case of covid-19, for the first time, I believe, it was necessary on a global scale to ensure the supply of the same good to all of humanity.

Covid -19

On Friday Portugal recorded 1 more death and 377 new cases of   covid-19, according to the DGS report.

Confirmed Cases: 838.852 (+ 377 / + 0.04 %)
Number of admitted: 280 (-3 /-1.06 %)
Number of ICU admitted: 75 (-2 /-2.60 %)
Deaths: 16.989 (+ 1 / + 0.01 %)
Recovered: 799.442 (+ 490 / + 0.06 %)
Active cases: 22,421 (- 114 /- 0.5%)

Safe Communities comparisons/trends: show that deaths are below last weeks’ average (2); new daily cases are below last weeks’ daily average (405) and 5th lowest since 7th September 2020 and recovered cases more than new cases. Those in hospital are the lowest for over a year since 26th March 2020 (then 191) and in ICU being the lowest since 21st September 2020. Active cases continued a moderate decrease being the lowest since 23rd September 2020

 

Health

Self-scheduling for over 60s planning to start next week

Editorial Staff, May 7, 2021 (Lusa) – Self-scheduling for vaccination against the covid-19 should start to include people from 60 years old, instead of the current 65, by the end of next week, the “task force” source told Lusa yesterday.
“As this is a complex and massive system that is in transition, it was decided in this initial phase to open self-scheduling only to people over 65, and it is expected to open self-scheduling to people over 60 at the end next week or beginning of the next ”, replied the ‘task force’ to a question sent by Lusa.
The measure aims to continue the increase in the rate of vaccination – which reached about 100 thousand doses administered on Thursday for the first time -, in order to have the entire age group above 60 years of age vaccinated with at least the first dose “Until the end of May or in the third week of May”, as the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, anticipated on April 21.

Covid-19 Variants

The most recent report by DGS and INSA monitoring red lines for covid-19 shows that the estimated prevalence of the Manaus (Brazil) variant in the country increased from 0.4% in March to 4.3 %, in April. Unsurprisingly, the variant associated with the United Kingdom remains the most prevalent in Portuguese territory, with a prevalence of 91.2%. In addition, until May 5, 101 cases of the Manaus (Brazil) variant were confirmed, another 16 since the last report. The estimated prevalence of this variant increased from 0.4% (in March) to 4.3% (in April).
In an inverse trend, the presence of the South African variant decreased from 2.5% to 1.3%, last month, with 77 cases identified.
It should also be noted that, so far, seven cases of the Indian variant have been confirmed.

 

One Hundred thousand vaccine target reached

“About 100 thousand vaccines were administered on Thursday, a number that should also be registered today, thus anticipating the initial expectation by about a week”, said the structure that coordinates the logistics of vaccination in Portugal in information sent to Lusa on Friday. According to this team led by Vice Admiral Gouveia e Melo, this result of vaccinating 100 thousand people a day “was only possible with the implementation of the self-scheduling process , which allowed a significant increase in the rate of vaccination, despite some setbacks verified in the process “.

On April 23, the portal for self-scheduling for vaccination came into operation, which had registered, until the beginning of this week, about 206 thousand registrations for taking the vaccine. With the entry of the second phase of the vaccination plan and a greater availability of vaccines by pharmaceutical supplying companies, the rate of vaccination is increasing significantly.

Covid-19. UK raises risk of variant discovery in India

The Directorate-General for Health of England (PHE) has announced that the number of infections with variant B.1.617.2 has more than doubled, from 202 to 520 in a week, which is causing concern among health authorities.
According to PHE, “the evidence suggests that this variant, first detected in India, is at least as transmissible as B.1.1.7 (Kent’s variant)”. However, he says the other features “are still being investigated”.

There are two other variants also discovered in India (B.1.617 and B.1.617.3) under monitoring in the United Kingdom that have also been increasing, but at lower values. According to the authorities, “almost half of the cases are related to travel or contact with travellers”, and although spread across the country, the majority of cases are concentrated in the northwest areas, namely Bolton, and London.

Additional testing in these areas is being implemented to contain outbreaks

UK limits AstraZeneca vaccine to people over 40

The scientific committee that oversees the anti-covid-19 vaccination campaign in the United Kingdom recommended limiting the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine to people over 40, after 242 cases of blood clots have been reported. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization, JCVI, which emphasizes that the benefits continue to outweigh the risks associated with covid-19, had already advised in April not to give this vaccine to older adults. 30 years when it was possible.

However, the offer of another vaccine to this age group should only happen when there are alternative drugs and “if there is no substantial delay or impediment in accessing vaccination,” said the president of JCVI, Wei Shen Lim, at a press conference.
“If the vaccination program continues in force, a future wave of infections is likely to be less than initially anticipated given what we know about vaccines” in terms of reducing complications and transmitting the disease, he maintained. According to the data announced this Friday, among more than 28 million doses of the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca with the University of Oxford administered until April 28, 242 cases of blood clots have been identified , an incidence of 10.5 cases per million.

Covid-19: WHO approves emergency use of Chinese Sinopharm vaccine

The World Health Organization (WHO) approved this Friday the emergency use of Sinopharm’s covid-19 Chinese vaccine, recommending its administration to people over 18 years old. t is the first Chinese vaccine to be approved by the WHO and the sixth of all vaccines against covid-19 approved by the organization.
The announcement was made at the WHO’s regular press conference call on the covid-19 pandemic, broadcast from the organization’s headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.

The vaccine produced by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinopharm is recommended for people over the age of 18, and should be administered in two doses with an interval of two to three weeks. Despite continuing to evaluate data on the vaccine, as it is provided by the laboratory, the WHO group of experts considers that Sinopharm’s formula meets the requirements for safety, efficacy and quality.