Azores Situation Report Wednesday 30th June 2021
From our colleague in the Azores
Missing workers
The body found yesterday in the parish of Ribeira Quente, on the island of São Miguel, belongs to one of the women who disappeared on Friday, following a flood that dragged the car which they were driving, into the waterway.
The remains were found today about a mile off the coast of the fishing village of Ribeira Quente, municipality of Povoação, in the area where a fisherman found alleged human remains on Sunday, after the end of the day’s search operation.
On Monday, the searches ended at around 17:00, due to the rising tide, which “complicates operations, as there are no longer safe conditions for professionals in the field”, explained a representative from Civil Protection.
The operation resumed on Tuesday, at around 8:00 am, and was expected to end at 6:00 pm, high tide time.
Yesterday, 12 entities and 46 elements, two vessels and two drones were involved in the searches.
On Friday, heavy rain caused the dragging of a vehicle from the Santa Casa da Misericórdia da Povoação, where the two employees, who would be providing home support, were driving.
The vehicle in which the two women were driving was located that day at the bottom of a stream, stopped and overturned, next to Povoação, but no occupants were seen.
The searches for the two women have involved elements of the Azores Regional Civil Protection and Fire Service (SRPCBA), the five fire brigades of São Miguel, the municipal civil protection service of Povoação, the Captaincy of the Port of Ponta Delgada, the Police Maritime, the North Coast Lifeguards Association and the PSP.
Shortage of Doctors
The Order of Doctors has identified a shortage of about 200 doctors in the Azores, a need recognized by the regional secretary of Health, who said yesterday that he is already making efforts to establish professionals in the region.
“We were all aware that there was a lack of doctors in different specialties and on different islands and, in fact, the shortage is significant”, said the President of the Medical Council of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, Margarida Moura, after meeting with the regional secretary of Health and Sports, Clélio Menezes.
The representative of the Order of Physicians in the region, who took office in February, stated that there are “nearly 200 doctors, 54 from General and Family Medicine and the others divided by other specialties”, identifying the islands of Santa Maria, São Jorge and Pico as the most, needy.
Regarding hospital specialties, at the Hospital do Divino Espírito Santo, in São Miguel, anesthesiology is “a very needy specialty”, while at the Hospital do Santo Espírito da Ilha Terceira the specialty most lacking is obstetrics and gynecology.
At the Hospital in Faial, there are “many specialties where there are not even resident doctors, there are contracts with external doctors”, said the person in charge.
Asked by the press when all Azores residents will have access to a family doctor, the regional secretary did not want to commit to dates: “I can’t give a date for this, I’ll only give goals when I’m sure we’ll meet them”, he stated.
The government official guaranteed that he is “working for this” but pointed out, “an added difficulty: there are many doctors on the way to retirement”.
“I am very concerned about this situation”, he added, referring to a “widespread problem of the need for general practitioners and family medicine”.
Covid-19 Report
26th June 2021
19 new positive cases of Covid-19 were diagnosed in the Azores, two in Graciosa and 17 in São Miguel, resulting from two tests in an unconventional laboratory and 1,397 carried out in reference laboratories in the Region.
On Graciosa, two cases were diagnosed concerning two travellers, one in Santa Cruz and one in São Mateus, with positive tests on the 6th day (one resident and the other non-resident).
In São Miguel there was also a positive case of a non-resident traveller, with a positive analysis on the 6th day. The remaining cases refer to community transmission.
In the municipality of Ribeira Grande there were three new cases (one in Rabo de Peixe, one in Matriz and one in Santa Bárbara). In the municipality of Ponta Delgada there were three new cases (one in São José, one in São Pedro and one in São Sebastião). In the municipality of Lagoa there are 11 new cases (five in Água de Pau, three in Rosário, two in Lagoa and one in Cabouco).
16 recoveries were recorded.
27th June 2021
22 new positive cases of Covid-19 were diagnosed in the Azores, one in Faial and 21 in São Miguel, resulting from 1,151 tests carried out in reference laboratories in the Region.
On Faial, a new case was registered in the parish of Angústias, municipality of Horta, of a non-resident traveller, with a positive analysis on the 6th day.
In São Miguel there was also a positive case of a traveller, resident, with a positive analysis on the 6th day. The remaining cases refer to community transmission. Thus, in the municipality of Ribeira Grande there were five new cases (two in Rabo de Peixe, one in Lomba da Maia, one in Conceição and one in Ribeira Seca). In the municipality of Ponta Delgada there were seven new cases (two in São José, two in São Pedro, one in Covoada, one in Santa Clara and one in São Vicente Ferreira). In the municipality of Lagoa there were seven new cases (six in Água de Pau and one in Santa Cruz). In the municipality of Vila Franca do Campo there is a new case in Ribeira Seca and in the municipality of Nordeste there was also a new case in Vila de Nordeste.
23 recoveries were recorded.
28th June 2021
31 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 691 tests carried out in the reference laboratories of the Region.
There were six new cases in the municipality of Ribeira Grande (three in Ribeirinha, two in Matriz and one in São Brás). There were eight new cases in the municipality of Ponta Delgada (one in each of the parishes of Arrifes, Fajã de Cima, São José, São Pedro, Relva, Fajã de Baixo, São Sebastion and Livramento). There were 17 new cases in the municipality of Lagoa (eight in Água de Pau, four in Santa Cruz, three in Rosário and two in Cabouco).
5 recoveries were registered, with four on the island of Faial, in the parish of Praia do Norte, and one on the island of Terceira, in the parish of Santa Cruz, municipality of Praia da Vitoria.
29th June 2021
22 new positive cases of Covid-19 were diagnosed in the Azores, all on the island of São Miguel, following 1,838 tests carried out in the reference laboratories of the Region and four in a private laboratory.
In the municipality of Lagoa, there were nine new cases (six in Santa Cruz and three in Água de Pau). Eight new cases are registered in the municipality of Ribeira Grande (two in Lomba da Maia, two in Rabo de Peixe and one in each of the parishes of Pico da Pedra, Matriz, Ribeirinha and Ribeira Seca). In Vila Franca do Campo, a case was diagnosed in Ponta Garça.
Out of the 22 new cases, one concerns a traveller, resident, who tested positive on the 6th day and the others in the context of community transmission.
In the same period, there were 40 recoveries, two patients are hospitalised, both in the Divino Espírito Santo Hospital in Ponta Delgada, one in Intensive Care Unit.
The archipelago currently has 287 active positive cases: 277 on the island of São Miguel, five on the island of Faial, two on the island of Graciosa, one on the island of Terceira, one on the island of São Jorge and one on the island of Santa Maria. Two primary local transmission chains are active in Faial, one in the parish of Praia do Norte and the other in Castelo Branco, municipality of Horta. To date, 203 have been extinguished on all islands. There are 840 people under active surveillance.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 6,310 positive cases of covid-19 have been diagnosed in the Azores and 5,853 people recovered from the disease. There were 33 deaths, 82 people who left the archipelago and 55 cases with history of previous cure. To date, 571,324 tests have been carried out for SARS-CoV-2, which causes Covid-19 disease.
From last December 31st, 2020 to June 23rd, 204,508 doses of Covid-19 vaccine were administered in the Azores, corresponding to 114,502 people aged 16 years or more who received the first dose, and 90,006 people who received both doses, under the Regional Vaccination Plan.