Algarve Situation Report Saturday 3rd July 2021
Hospitals in the Algarve with an increase in admissions among the youngest
Hospitals in the Algarve have 49 patients admitted to COVID-19 wards, 12 of which are in intensive care, with a trend towards an increase in admissions among the youngest.
Speaking to Lusa, the chairman of the board of directors of CHUA Ana Varges Gomes said that patients admitted to hospitals in Faro and Portimão are aged between 23 and 67 years old, “a younger age group than was verified in hospital admissions in previous years’.
“It is really a younger population that we have hospitalized and that does not have vaccination”, explained out Ana Varges Gomes, stressing that there are «a greater number of young patients hospitalized who are ill, who do not know if they will fully recover or if they will be left with sequelae”.
She attributes the increase in cases to non-compliance with the recommended health rules, due to the fact that people still think that the disease “only affects the elderly”, contrary to what is happening.
According to Ana Varges Gomes, the total number of admissions (49) in the two hospitals in the Algarve represents about 60% of the limit of 80 beds defined for the region, with no forecast for opening more beds.
«Right now we are in phase 2 of the contingency plan, which has four phases, and we do not plan to open more beds, because we still have 21 vacancies. However, we are monitoring the phases and we will open beds as needed», he said.
For her, the epidemiological situation in the Algarve “deserves some surveillance”, given the significant increase in cases of infections of the disease in recent weeks in younger age groups and given the forecast of an increase in population during the summer.
Loulé Council will be one of the safest in Europe to save lives
The project “Algarve Coração Seguro” was made official today in Quarteira, between the Algarve Medical Centre – ABC and the National Institute of Medical Emergency – INEM. This is a pilot project that aims to train people to be able to provide assistance to cardiac victims with defibrillators, with 1700 people already trained in the municipality of Loulé alone.
In addition to using the automatic external defibrillator – AED, these people also have knowledge of basic life support manoeuvres.
The signing ceremony was attended by the Deputy Secretary of State and Health, António Lacerda Sales, Luís Meira – chairman of the board of directors of INEM, IP, Vítor Aleixo – chairman of Loulé City Council, Nuno Marques – chairman of ABC, Telmo Pinto – President of the Parish Council of Quarteira, among other guests.
Essentially, the project exists to provide assistance to cardiac patients before the arrival of the means of assistance in coordination with CODU – Guidance Centre for Urgent Patients. At the moment, in the municipality of Loulé, there is a network with 61 operational defibrillators, with a total of 180 being expected to be acquired.
Another objective is to train around 3,000 people with this specific qualification. “If, with this, we make the ratios per 100,000 inhabitants, it can be said that this becomes the safest municipality, perhaps in European terms”, referred Nuno Marques do ABC.
The fourth edition of the cycle of “Cinema ao Ar Livre” in the parishes of the county is postponed indefinitely.
In a statement, the municipality states that following the weekly review on the level of incidence of covid.19 cases, in which the Municipality was considered to be at high risk, the new measures imposed by the DGS were adopted, which oblige to postpone the initiative, taking into account that its timetable is not compatible with the curfew (11:00 pm), one of the measures to be taken by high-risk municipalities.
The Municipality of Silves regrets the inconvenience caused, and recalls the importance of adopting safety steps in the fight against the pandemic by the entire community.