Portugal Situation Report Saturday 7th August 2021
Introduction
Good morning – Firstly our SCP team would like to thank the government as for the first time we can recall in a year, there was no Council of Minister’s meeting last Thursday concerning Covid-19 and therefore no re-scheduling of dinner for us, through publishing charts, translations, preparing Facebook posts, answering your questions etc! Hopefully this is a sign things are improving.
On a more serious note, yesterday was a very busy day concerning rural fires, particularly in the Algarve, both in terms of providing prevention and self- protection advice as well as monitoring of fires, which we did as usual throughout the day, reporting on those. For the Algarve the fact that there were five fires in less than for hours in the afternoon came as no surprise given the extreme fire risk which we had outlined earlier in the day.
Each day at this time of the year there are upwards of around 40 fires sometimes reaching over one hundred. This is too many, but a vast reduction of over 300 per day during the worst of the 2017 fire period. The vast majority of rural fires take place in isolated areas and do not pose a threat to life or property, and the vast majority are extinguished quickly, normally within one hour due to the great work of the emergency services.
These fire are monitored by Civil Protection through their dashboard and through Fogos.pt which has an automatic link to the ANEPC dashboard downloading information but with more features. This is important as it ensures accuracy, and avoids human error.
Our role at Safe Communities, as it was when I spent over 30 years as a police officer, is to protect life and property. For that reason SCP trained for and became Portugal’s only Civil Protection Voluntary Organisation under Portuguese law in the area of communication in particular to the international community living and visiting here.
We attended numerous civil protection exercises, visited command posts during incidents, and entered into formal agreements with the ANEPC, as well as becoming part of the National Civil Protection plan, plus working closely with fire behavioural experts. As such in times of crisis we can call upon the relevant authorities for guidance, advice and information when required as in carrying out our statutory duties.
Although we monitor all rural fires we do not report each and every one, such as stating the number of operatives, vehicles and aircraft as that alone provides very little information concerning the fire situation, especially where exactly the fire is and which direction it is moving in for example. Our criterial for creating SITREPS (situation reports), is when the fires has exceed the initial attack stage; and or if it poses a threat to life or property; it becomes a major incident declared by the ANEPC or there multiple fires in a close area. In such cases we create a Facebook post, linked to a major incident page (in serious cases) on our website with as much relevant and accurate information available.
Regarding to the fire at Carvalhal, Loulé, which re-ignited 2 days after it was dominated, this shows the problem concerning fires which burn at high temperatures when the vegetation is very dry, there are high air temperatures, low humidity with high winds. If you have burned piled and cut debris, you will know the problems of ensuring the fire is fully extinguished – this is why in cases like this there is always deployment of fire fighters well after the conclusion stage, to monitor the situation and to ensure a quick response to and re-ignitions that take place.
Turning to the weather. We frequently provide advice concerning the dangers of high temperatures and how to avoid exposure to the heat, as well as ways recommended by the DGS to keep safe in high temperatures. We are now seeing temperatures across several parts of the country, particularly in the Algarve, temperatures are well into the 30s. For those working outdoors, such as builders, for example, or those undertaking leisure sports activities, in these temperatures there is a danger of heat exhaustion or heat stroke, if your body basically over heats. This can lead to heat exhaustion and even worse heat stroke which if left untreated can lead to death. We have advice on the symptoms and treatment which can be downloaded here.
I will be discussing these subjects on KissFm radio on Sunday at 0915 on Solid Gold Sunday.
Please take care and have a Safe Day
Covid 19
DGS Covid-19 Report
Confirmed Cases: 982.364 (+ 2377 / + 0.24 %)
Number of admitted: 866 (-32 /-3.56 %)
Number of ICU admitted: 194 (-2 /-1.02 %)
Deaths: 17.440 (+ 18 / + 0.10 %)
Recovered: 920.278 (+ 2911 / + 0.32 %)
Active cases: 44,646 (-552/-4.5%)
Safe Communities comparisons/trends show that deaths yesterday were nearly double that of Thursday and above last week’s daily average; new daily cases were slightly higher than Monday in line with last week’s daily average. In hospital it was the 4th day in a row of moderate decreases and in ICU there was a reduction for two consecutive days. In active cases there was a smaller decrease, with the total having have decreased by 17.6% in 12 days.
In Algarve new cases at 245 is more than yesterday’s figure of 230. Increase 10.3% of total similar to yesterday.
Health
Covid-19: Portugal with 12 million doses of vaccines administered expects an additional 1.2 million this month
Portugal has already administered more than 12 million doses of vaccines against covid-19 and expects to receive 1.2 million additional doses this month, in addition to 1.6 million doses contracted with suppliers.
“Mainland Portugal surpassed the mark of 12 million doses of vaccines against covid-19 administered to the population, which allowed to vaccinate more than 6.8 million people, with at least one dose, of which more than 6.1 million have the complete vaccination schedule”, says the Ministry of Health in a statement released today.
In the same note, the Ministry of Health also states that the country hopes to receive over 1.2 million doses of vaccines this month.
“It should be noted that more than 1.2 million additional vaccines are expected to be delivered during the month of August, which will be added to the 1.6 million doses of vaccines already expected and resulting from initial contracts with companies that supply vaccines”, advances the document.
The Ministry of Health highlights the “commitment of all those involved in the process” of vaccination, such as health professionals, security forces and the armed forces, among others, to have reached “a milestone” of 12 million doses administered, as well as efforts to purchase additional vaccines.
Covid-19: Reinforcement of more than half a million vaccines arrives in Portugal in the coming weeks
Evora, 06 Aug 2021 (Lusa) – Portugal will receive a booster of more than half a million vaccines against covid-19 in the next two weeks, in an “effort” to give the virus “the last blow”, said the coordinator of the ‘task force’ of vaccination today.
“We are going to receive a booster, in addition to what is planned, of 286,000 [vaccines], on Monday, then on another Monday, another 300,000, and then still another booster”, which did not he needed the quantities, he indicated.
The task force coordinator, Vice Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, who was speaking to journalists at the end of a visit to the Covid-19 Vaccination Center in Évora, said that Janssen and Pfizer vaccines have “already arrived”, which allowed again to “accelerate the process”.
“The reinforcement [of vaccines] at Moderna is also being negotiated”, he pointed out, stressing that this “effort” is aimed at “giving a final blow” to the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the covid-19 disease.
Stressing that the country is “close to reaching” 70% of the vaccinated population, Gouveia e Melo considered that this number “is no longer a goal” and established that the goal now is to have, by September, “all the eligible population” for the vaccine “with the first dose”.
In this sense, he added, the country will once again “have an average of more than 100,000” doses of vaccine administered per day, as early as next week.
“We want to vaccinate 800,000 people, of which more than half a million are first doses and, in these coming weeks, we want to give a high amount of first doses and then have the second doses for September”, he stressed.
Asked about people missing appointments at vaccination centers due to vacations, the coordinator of the ‘task force’ said he had already noticed that “in some centers” of vaccination there are people with appointments “who do not show up”.
“But later, when we go to study” the case, it is observed that “there were scheduling errors, because we put these people on schedule but there was no confirmation from the person whether they wanted or not” the vaccine, he stressed.
Covid-19: DGS prepares guidance on vaccines not approved by the European Agency
Lisbon, 05 Aug 2021 (Lusa) – The Directorate-General for Health (DGS) is preparing guidelines on vaccines against covid-19 Covishield (AstraZeneca) and Chinese Sinovac, not approved by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), that will be released soon.
Asked by Lusa about whether the DGS will recognize these two vaccines for the purposes of quarantine exemption for travellers arriving, for example, from Brazil, the entity said only that it is “preparing guidelines on these matters, which will be published in due course” .
SIC reported on Tuesday that Portugal will recognize the Indian-made AstraZeneca vaccine and the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, which are neither approved by the EMA nor administered in national territory, saying that “Infarmed’s decision will be applied by the General Directorate’s rule of health”.
In response to Lusa, Infarmed said that “it provided the necessary information to the Directorate-General of Health at the right time” and sent any clarification to the DGS.
“Portugal continues to receive and purchase vaccines within the scope of supplies under the contracts signed by the European Commission, namely with AstraZeneca, Janssen, Moderna and BioNTech/Pfizer”, adds the National Medicines Authority.
DGS issues Guidelines for outdoor events
Lisbon, 06 Aug 2021 (Lusa) – Outdoor shows, even free ones, must have admission tickets, controlled entrances and the public must be distributed by marked places, indicates an updated guideline by the General Directorate of Health (DGS) .
In the document, the DGS emphasizes that, “at this stage, shows with audiences not distributed by marked places are not allowed”, insisting that the places in the outdoor show venue must be previously identified (chairs or marking on the floor), “giving preference to seating positions”.
Stressing the importance of always complying with a distance of 1.2 meters between non-cohabiting spectators, “given that spectators do not move, they are outdoors and are obligatorily wearing a face mask at all times”.
DGS also says that in outdoor shows “the period of entry and exit of the public must be extended so that the entrance of spectators can be delayed, complying, in access, with the rules of minimum physical distance of 1.5 meters between people non-cohabitants”.
In shows with a stage, the first two rows next to the stage must not be occupied or, alternatively, a distance of at least two meters must be guaranteed between the stage and the first row of spectators to occupy, indicates.
The guideline also defines that events with audiences held outside fixed spaces or establishments of an artistic nature, “should be preceded by a risk assessment by the territorially competent health authority”, in conjunction with the event organizer, listening to the local security forces, to determine if there is feasibility and conditions for realization.
Portugal analysing with Brazil easing of travel restrictions
On Wednesday, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, revealed that Portugal is analyzing with Brazil the possibility of easing restrictions on the entry of passengers from the South American country due to the covid-19 pandemic.
“We started working together with the Brazilian authorities (…) to see under what conditions and when we can ease some of the restrictions that currently apply to passengers arriving in Portugal from Brazil,” said Augusto Santos Silva.
Currently, passengers from Brazil can only travel to Portugal for family, professional, study or humanitarian reasons, they have to present a negative test to covid-19 and they have to comply with a period of quarantine.
Augusto Santos Silva said that Portugal can “evaluate the restrictions that are currently in place” as the situation of the pandemic evolves positively in each of the countries.
“It was this work that began on July 30th, between Portugal and Brazil, and will continue after the holidays,” said the minister, when asked about the difference in criteria between Portugal and Spain regarding the recognition of vaccine certification against covid-19.