Azores Situation Report Saturday 5th June 2021
From our colleague in the Azores
Portugal, including the archipelagos of Madeira and the Azores, will leave the British Government’s “green list” of international travel on Tuesday at 04:00, announced the British Ministry of Transport.
According to the ministry, Portugal goes to the “yellow list” to “safeguard public health against worrying variants” and protect the British vaccination program.
In a statement, the British Government said that, according to the European database GISAID, 68 cases of variant B1.617.2 were identified in Portugal, identified for the first time in India, named by the World Health Organization as Delta variant, “with an additional potentially harmful mutation”.
The UK Health Directorate (Public Health England) is investigating this variant and mutation to better understand whether it might be more transmissible and more resistant to vaccines.
The British Government also says that the positive rate of tests for the new coronavirus in Portugal is almost double that registered about a month ago, surpassing the national average in the United Kingdom.
Countries on the “yellow list” are subject to tighter restrictions, namely a 10-day quarantine on arrival in the UK and two PCR tests on the second and eighth day, as is already the case with most European countries, such as Spain, France and Greece.
The “green list” exempts travellers arriving in British territory from quarantine, while the “red list” requires a 10-day quarantine at a designated hotel, in addition to two PCR tests.
In the published update of international travel lists, the UK Transport Ministry added Afghanistan, Bahrain, Costa Rica, Egypt, Sri Lanka, Sudan and Trinidad and Tobago to the “red list”.
The British Executive also reiterates the appeal to the British not to travel to destinations on the “yellow list” in order to protect public health because the “prevalence of worrying variants and overall rates of coronaviruses are higher”.
The traffic light system is based on four criteria: vaccination rates, number of cases, prevalence of “concerning variants” and quality of testing data.
According to data from the British Government, since the beginning of the pandemic, nearly 128,000 people have died in the UK, the worst mortality rate in Europe.
The covid-19 pandemic caused at least 3,693,717 deaths worldwide, resulting from more than 171.5 million cases of infection, according to a balance made by the French agency AFP.
In Portugal, 17,029 people died out of 851,031 confirmed cases of infection, according to the latest bulletin from the Directorate-General for Health.
Covid-19
2nd June
26 new positive cases of covid-19 were diagnosed in the Azores, all on the island of São Miguel, in the context of community transmission, following 2,510 tests carried out in the reference laboratories of the Region.
The municipality of Ribeira Grande registered 17 cases (nine in Rabo de Peixe, four in Matriz, two in Pico da Pedra, one in Porto Formoso and one in Ribeirinha). In the municipality of Ponta Delgada, there were nine new cases (three in São José, and one in each of the parishes of Capelas, São Roque, Fajã de Cima, Fenais da Luz, Relva and Pilar da Bretanha).
Also, there has been a total of 26 recoveries.
3rd June
27 new positive cases of covid-19 were diagnosed in the Azores, all in São Miguel, in a context of community transmission, resulting from 3,036 tests carried out in reference laboratories in the Region and another two in non-conventional laboratories.
The municipality of Ribeira Grande had 14 cases (five in Rabo de Peixe, three in Maia, two in Porto Formoso, two in Conceição, one in Ribeira Seca and one in Lomba da Maia). In the municipality of Ponta Delgada there were seven new cases (two in São José, two in Fajã de Baixo, two in Arrifes and one in Fenais da Luz). In the municipality of Vila Franca do Campo there was a new case, in São Pedro, and in the municipality of Lagoa, five new cases were diagnosed (three in Santa Cruz, one in Rosário and one in Cabouco).
Also, there was a total of 20 recoveries.
4th June
22 new positive cases of covid-19 were diagnosed in the Azores, all on the island of São Miguel, following 2,070 tests carried out in the reference laboratories of the Region and one in an independent laboratory.
Of the total number of new positive cases, 21 are related to the context of community transfer and one refers to a traveller, non-resident, with positive analysis on the 12th day.
The municipality of Ribeira Grande had 11 new cases (three in Rabo de Peixe, two in Matriz, two in Maia, one in Lomba da Maia, one in Fenais da Ajuda, one in Conceição and one in Pico da Pedra). In the municipality of Ponta Delgada, there were nine new cases (two in Roque, two in Fenais da Luz, two in the Fajã de Baixo, one in the Arrifes, one in São Vincente Ferreira and one in São José). In the municipality of Povoação, there was a new case in the parish of Furnas, and in the municipality of Lagoa, a new case was diagnosed in the parish of Cabouco.
Also, there have been a total of 27 recoveries.
As of today, 12 patients are in hospital, all at the Divino Espírito Santo Hospital in Ponta Delgada, with three of them in intensive care.
The archipelago currently has 279 active positive cases, all on the island of São Miguel. There are no active local transmission chains and 203 have been extinguished so far. There are 1,504 people under active surveillance today.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 5,653 positive cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed in the Azores and 5,211 people recovered from the disease. There were 33 deaths, 79 people who left the archipelago and 51 cases with history of previous cure.
To date, 514,565 tests have been carried out in the archipelago to detect SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes covid-19 disease.
From last December 31st, 2020 until May 28th, 126,130 doses of covid-19 vaccine were administered in the Azores, corresponding to 79,832 people aged 16 years or more who received the first dose, and 46,298 people who received both doses, under the Regional Vaccination Plan.