Azores Situation Report Wednesday 28th July 2021
From our colleague in the Azores
Herd Immunity
The target to achieve herd immunity in the Azores has been extended until the end of August, but the regional coordinator of vaccination against Covid-19 said that there is now “a very high degree of predictability”.
15,000 Janssen vaccines have arrived in the region, they will allow a substantial increase in the vaccination cycle here, on the island of São Miguel, one of the great difficulties that was felt in the Azores is the degree of predictability of the arrival of vaccines.
Between the 21st of July and the 17th of August, around 100,000 vaccines will arrive in the Autonomous Region of the Azores, of which 72% will be allocated exclusively to the island of São Miguel.
On the possibility of starting to vaccinate children from 12 years of age, “it will be up to the monitoring committee to make its recommendation to the Regional Government”.
Pedro Monjardino believes that, “at the right time, they will do this, because, in fact, we have the school year to start and this is an issue that will have to be resolved during the month of August, so that the measures that must be taken can be.
For the island of São Miguel, which is currently the priority in vaccination. We are preparing to vaccinate about 2,500 people a day.
Restaurant opening hours extended
The Regional Government of the Azores changed the restrictive measures to combat Covid-19, extending the restaurant’s opening hours and reducing the ban on circulation, even in high-risk municipalities, revealed the regional director of Health.
In a press conference, Berto Cabral, who is also the head of the Azores Regional Health Authority, justified the decision because of the advancement of the vaccination process against Covid-19 in the region and the importance that this time of year “is for many sectors of economic activity”.
As of 00:00 on Monday, the municipalities of Ponta Delgada and Lagoa, on the island of São Miguel, and Angra do Heroísmo and Praia da Vitória, on the island of Terceira, with a high risk of transmission of SARS-CoV-2, are in a situation of public calamity.
Even so, the restrictions are lessened: in medium-high and high-risk municipalities, restaurant hours are extended from 22:00 to 23:00, but in high-risk districts, cafes have to close at 20:00.
From 00:00 on Monday, restaurants, drinks and similar establishments in the lower and very low risk counties are no longer obligatory to close at midnight.
In medium-risk municipalities, these spaces can now close at midnight, when they had to close at 10 pm, according to the changes introduced in the resolution of the Council of Government, already published in the Official Journal.
Another change concerns the reduction of the time of prohibition of circulation on public roads in high-risk municipalities, which is now between 00:00 and 5:00, and is no longer between 23:00 and 5:00.
The exceptions provided for by law are maintained.
Commercial establishments in high-risk municipalities are required to close at 23:00, with the exception of pharmacies, clinics and fuel stations.
Also in high-risk councils, wakes can now take place until 22:00, whereas before they could only take place until 20:00.
Gatherings on public roads are limited to 10 people in very low risk municipalities, eight in low risk, six in medium risk and four in medium-high risk.
Restaurants can only occupy a capacity of three quarters in very low risk counties, two thirds at low risk, half at medium risk and one third at medium-high and high risk.
In cultural and sporting events, the maximum capacity allowed is half in municipalities at very low risk, a third in low risk and a quarter in the highest levels.
The new measures will come into effect “exceptional” at 00:00 on Monday and not at 00:00 on Saturday.
This is due, according to Berto Cabral, to the need for logistical preparation for the obligation to carry out screening tests on inter-island trips departing from Terceira Island, where community transmission was declared.
“It requires that both the laboratories, the passengers, and the teams that will be on each of the islands to control these passengers, have the logistics set up so that things work”, he explained.
The resolution states that the current measures are “in effect until 23:59 hours on the 25th of July”, Sunday.
From 00:00 on Monday, on the island of São Miguel, Ribeira Grande and Vila Franca do Campo will be at medium-high risk and in a contingency situation.
The remaining municipalities of the Azores will be on alert, with the measures planned for very low risk municipalities, with the exception of the islands that have already reached 70% vaccination (Corvo, Santa Maria, São Jorge, Pico and Graciosa), where the restrictive measures have already been eased.
The assessment of risk levels in the region is based on a German model of traffic lights and is calculated as a function of the number of new cases of Covid-19 per 100,000 inhabitants in a seven-day period.
There are five risk levels: very low (less than 25 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), low (between 25 and 49 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), medium (between 50 and 74 cases per 100,000 inhabitants), medium high (between 75 and 99 cases per 100,000 inhabitants) and high (more than 100 cases per 100,000 inhabitants).
Covid-19
Since the last Situation report Azores on the 21st July there have been 111 new cases of Covid-19
27th July 2021
43 new positive cases of covid-19 were diagnosed in the Azores. 29 on the island of São Miguel, 11 on the island of Terceira, two on the island of São Jorge and one on the island of Pico, following 2,123 tests carried out in the reference laboratories of the Region.
On the island of São Miguel, five of the new cases concern travellers: three are residents, one in the parish of Ribeirinha, municipality of Ribeira Grande, and one in the parish of Nossa Senhora do Rosário, municipality of Lagoa, who tested positive on the 6th day, and one in the parish of São Pedro, municipality of Vila Franca do Campo, who tested positive upon arrival. Two are non-residents, one is a crew member of a vessel that stopped over at Ponta Delgada and the other, in the parish of Santa Cruz, municipality of Lagoa, who tested positive on the 6th day. All the other cases are related to community transmission. In terms of municipalities, in Lagoa, there were six new cases, in the municipality of Ponta Delgada, 16 new cases were registered, in the municipality of Vila Franca do Campo, there was one new case and in the municipality of Ribeira Grande, there were six new cases.
On the island of Terceira, one of the cases concerns a traveller, resident, who presented symptoms after the 6th negative day test. All other cases are related to community transmission. Thus, two new cases were registered in the municipality of Angra do Heroísmo and in the municipality of Praia da Vitória, there were six new cases.
On the island of Pico, the case now diagnosed was related to a travel from outside the Region and originated a new primary local transmission chain in Madalena.
On the island of São Jorge, one of the cases diagnosed concerns a person with a history of travel from outside the Region, creating a new primary local transmission chain in the municipality of Velas, related to the other case now diagnosed.
66 recoveries were registered.
As of today, 18 patients are hospitalised, with 10 at the Divino Espírito Santo Hospital in Ponta Delgada (with two in intensive care unit), seven at the Santo Espírito Hospital in Angra do Heroísmo (with one in intensive care unit) and one in Horta Hospital.
The archipelago currently has 523 active positive cases: 324 on the island of São Miguel, 169 on the island of Terceira, 11 on the island of Pico, three on the island of Flores, five on the island of Faial, six on the island of São Jorge, three on the island of Graciosa and two on the island of Santa Maria.
With the emergence of two new primary local transmission chains in the last 24 hours, five chains are now active in the archipelago, two on the island of Pico, one on the island of Faial, one between the island of Pico and Flores and one on the island of São Jorge. To date, 218 have been extinguished on all islands. There are 2,005 people under active surveillance today.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 7,420 positive cases of covid-19 have been diagnosed in the Azores and 6,712 people recovered from the disease. There were 37 deaths, 85 people who left the archipelago and 63 cases with history of previous cure. To date, 631,350 tests have been carried out for SARS-CoV-2, which causes covid-19 disease.
From 31st December 2020 until July 8th, 250,705 doses of covid-19 vaccines have been administered in the Azores, with 129.190 people who received the first dose (53.21 % of the population) and 121.515 people with complete vaccination (50.05 %), under the Regional Vaccination Plan.