Portugal Situation Report Saturday 3rd July 2021
Introduction
Good morning I wish to start with some good news resulting from a meeting Safe Communities Portugal had a few days ago with Vice Admiral Gouveia e Melo Head of the Government Covid19 Vaccination Task Force.
As you may recall, we had taken up around 3 weeks ago with the government, the problems some of you were facing in obtaining a vaccination because of problems through the self-scheduling system, either not receiving an SMS or because the user had tried initially but became somehow blocked using the system. The second is the situation concerning those who have been unable to obtain a utente number.
The meeting was extremely productive and various actions were decided to try and resolve these issues. The first is dealing with those with a utente number, aged 50 years and over, which we outlined in our Facebook post yesterday. For those without, we are working on follow up details from what was agreed at the meeting and we hope to make an announcement in the next few days.
We are very grateful to the Vice Admiral for giving up his time to help resolve these issues with us, even though some of these were not directly in his remit.
On Sunday I will be on KissFm at around 0915 hrs discussing the above and other matters concerning Covid-19 particularly the situation in the Algarve as well as the critical fire period in respect of rural fires.
The situation concerning Covid-19 has increased considerably with the highest transmission rate in the country, 1.28, as well as a very high incidence rate especially in Albufeira, the highest in the country and Loule. Some of these cases are from the younger generation through group gatherings. It is really important even those who have received their full vaccination that we continue to comply with the basic rules, social distancing, hygiene and the wearing of facemasks. Thankfully the number of deaths remain low.
Please have a Safe weekend
Headlines
Portugal leads vaccination in the EU in the average of the last seven days
Portugal is the country in the European Union with the most daily doses of vaccine against covid-19 per one hundred inhabitants administered, on average, in the last seven days, indicates this Thursday the statistical website Our World in Data.
In this indicator, Portugal presents a value of 1.38, followed by Spain with 1.12 and Luxembourg with 1.04, while the average of the European Union is at 0.70, refer the data of this non-profit organization with headquartered in the United Kingdom.
Regarding the percentage of people vaccinated against covid-19, the site places Portugal in sixth position, behind Malta, Belgium, Finland, Netherlands and Denmark, with 35.1% of the population fully vaccinated and 22% with at least one dose of vaccine.
As for the doses administered by one hundred people, Portugal is currently in tenth place in a list of 24 countries led prominently by Malta (151.91) – the rest did not report any information -, with 84.06, with the European Union average at 81.21 , also indicates the Global Change Data Lab project portal.
COVID-19: Delta variant already present in 98 countries
Delta variant, predominant in Portugal, is already present in 98 countries, announced today the World Health Organization, warning that it is facing a “very dangerous period of the pandemic” of COVID-19 at a global level.
“Delta has been detected in at least 98 countries and is spreading rapidly in countries with low and high vaccine coverage,” noted the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), in a virtual press conference from Geneva.
According to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the world is currently facing a “very dangerous period of the pandemic”, with “terrible scenes of overcrowded hospitals” in countries with low vaccination coverage and with the Delta variant, initially detected in India, “continue to mutate”, which requires constant evaluation with adjustments in the public health response. The WHO official added that he asked world leaders to work together to ensure that by July 2022, 70 percent of the world’s population is vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2.
“This is the best way to control the pandemic, save lives and lead to global economic recovery, preventing the variants from spreading”, defended Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who reiterates the goal of, in September of this year, having 10 percent of the world’s population already vaccinated, which protects health workers and the most vulnerable groups.
To increase global vaccination, the WHO leader said that new production facilities are being created in various parts of the world, but stressed that this goal could be accelerated with the sharing of knowledge and technology by pharmaceutical companies.
Health
Covid-19: Portugal can reach 240 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in less than a week
Lisbon, July 2, 2021 (Lusa) – Portugal may reach 240 cases of infection per 100,000 population within six days, estimates the covid-19 pandemic risk analysis, which warns of increased pressure on intensive care.
According to the “red lines” report of the pandemic released today by the General Directorate of Health (DGS) and the National Institute of Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), the country now has 200 new cases of infection per 100,000 inhabitants in 14 days , as well as a transmissibility index (Rt) above the limit of 1 in all regions.
This growing trend is more pronounced in the Center and Algarve, which have a Rt of 1.24 and 1.28, while the age group with the highest cumulative incidence of infections at 14 days corresponded to people between 20 and 29 years old, with 427 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
“Maintaining this growth rate, it is estimated that the time to reach the cumulative incidence rate of 14 days of 240 cases per 100,000 inhabitants is less than 15 days (more specifically six days) for the national level”, he warns. The report, states that this threshold has already been exceeded in Lisbon and Vale do Tejo and in the Algarve.
In terms of pressure from the National Health Service, the document states that the daily number of patients with covid-19 admitted to Intensive Care Units (ICU) on the continent has shown a growing trend once again, corresponding to 47% of the defined critical value. of 245 beds occupied, when, last week, it was at 43%.
As of June 30, 113 patients were in intensive care, the majority aged between 40 and 59 years, adds the report, which considers that, in the last month, the increase in epidemic activity has “conditioned a gradual increase in pressure from health care, especially in the occupation of intensive care”.
Open house vaccines for 45s and over
Lisbon, July 2, 2021 (Lusa) – People aged 45 or over without a scheduled vaccination can go, from Saturday, to the “open house” centers to receive the first dose of the vaccine against covid-19, he announced today the `task force´.
“From July 3, the “open house” modality is available for the vaccination of first doses of users who are not scheduled, aged 45 years or over and who have not been infected with covid-19 in the last six months”, said the structure that coordinates the logistics of vaccination in a statement.
The `task force’ led by Vice Admiral Gouveia e Melo added that, to be vaccinated in this modality, users must go to the covid vaccination center corresponding to the health center where they are registered, at specific times for this type which can be consulted on the Ministry of Health’s website.
“The “open house” modality makes it possible to ensure that all eligible people are called to the vaccination process”, said the same source.
Incidence rates
Lisbon, 02 Jul 2021 (Lusa) – Portugal currently has 87 municipalities with an incidence of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus greater than 120 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, 29 more than last Friday.
According to data released today in the epidemiological bulletin of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS), among the 87 municipalities with an incidence of more than 120 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, there are all 18 municipalities that belong to the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (AML).
Of the 18 municipalities in the AML, only Setúbal (231) and Palmela (229) have an incidence of more than 120 cases of covid-19 per 100,000 inhabitants, with the remaining 16 exceeding 240 cases.
In this area, the most worrying situation continues to be in Lisbon, which now exceeds 480 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (595), and in Sesimbra (473).
According to the DGS, as in the previous bulletin, there are no municipalities at very high risk, that is, with an incidence over 14 days above 960 cases per 100,000 inhabitants.
However, the situation in Albufeira worsened in the last week and the Algarve region now registers 823 cases of covid-19 per 100,000 inhabitants, almost double compared to the previous Friday.
Of the 87 municipalities, 32 have accumulated, in the last 14 days, more than 240 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, while last Friday there were 27 municipalities that were at this level.
The remaining 55 municipalities have values between 120 and 239.9 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, 27 more than last week. With zero cases in the last 14 days, 39 municipalities are referred, four less than in the previous bulletin.
The 14-day cumulative incidence of today’s bulletin refers to the period between June 17th and June 30th.
Johnson & Johnson ensures their vaccine is effective against the Delta variant
Johnson & Johnson today announced that its single-dose Covid-19 vaccine is effective against the Delta variant, detected in India and particularly contagious, with an immune response that can last for at least eight months.
According to a study carried out by the American group to a small group of eight people who received the vaccine produced by Janssen, the group’s pharmaceutical, the antibodies and immune system cells neutralized the Delta variant.
A second study involving 20 vaccinated patients at Beth Israel Medical Center in Boston, USA, produced the same results.
Data from the studies were uploaded to the BioRxiv scientific paper “pre-publication” platform, where scientists can submit their work prior to possible publication in a scientific journal.
“We believe our vaccine offers long-lasting protection against Covid-19 and allows for neutralization of the Delta variant,” said Paul Stoffels, Chief Scientific Officer of Johnson & Johnson, quoted in a statement.
The data studied over eight months shows that the single-dose vaccine developed by the lab “produces a strong neutralizing antibody response,” said Mathai Mammen, head of Research and Development at Johnson & Johnson.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned on Thursday of the risk of a new wave of the pandemic carried by the Delta variant in Europe.
Covid-19: Digital certificate enters into force on 1st July with more than one million issued in Portugal
The European digital certificate for immunization against covid-19 or negative testing enters into force on 1st July, and more than one million have already been issued in Portugal.
These certificates began to be issued in Portugal on June 16 and, since then and until the end of Tuesday, more than one million proofs have been made available that their bearer was vaccinated against covid-19, carried out a test with a negative result or has already recovered from the disease, he told Lusa a source from the Shared Services of the Ministry of Health.
Following the agreement of the Member States to facilitate the free movement of citizens in the EU in a safe manner during the pandemic, the document, in Portugal, may have other functionalities, as the Government foresees that it can be used in “matters of air traffic and maritime, of circulation in the national territory and access to cultural, sporting, corporate or family events”.
The first practical use of the digital certificate took place over the weekend, as one of the conditions for entering and leaving the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, where there is a high incidence of infections with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, was to be the holder of this supporting evidence.
As a document for common and uniform use throughout the EU, as well as in the countries of the European Economic Area – Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway -, it is up to the national authorities to define the rules for its internal use.