Algarve Situation Report Wednesday 9^th February 2022

Covid-19: Demand for the Algarve rises with end of test on arrival

The end of the obligation to present a negative test for covid-19 on arrival in Portugal is “very positive” and is causing a “significant” increase in demand in the region, the president of the main regional hotel association told Lusa today.

The president of the Association of Hotels and Tourist Enterprises of the Algarve (AHETA), Hélder Martins, said that the upward trend is confirmed in areas such as meetings and congresses or golf, but acknowledged that it is too early to quantify the increase, because the tourists who arrived today to Faro airport “they still didn’t know” that the measure is already in force.

“For our part, we see it as very positive and it is one of several measures that will have to appear. It is a sign, first, that the pandemic is losing ground and that we are able to resume our freedoms and, on the other hand, towards a destiny tourist destination such as the Algarve, it is extremely important that tourists have the least barriers to entry to the destination”, he said.

The mandatory negative test for the SARS-CoV-2 virus to enter Portugal ended at 00:00 today, with the presentation of a covid-19 digital certificate or a recognized proof of vaccination.

According to the new president of AHETA, elected at the end of January and replacing Elidérico Viegas, who was president of the association for 26 years, despite the low season, “the indicators that exist for the coming times are positive”, because “demand has grown”.

The same source said he hopes that the lifting of restrictions will continue and “that this will bring the stability that the Algarve needs to continue the recovery of a destination that has been so affected in the last two years” by the restrictive measures applied to travel and entry into the country due to the covid-19 pandemic.

Centro Hospitalar do Algarve fined for leaving compress on user’s body

Lisbon, Feb 08, 2022 (Lusa) – The Health Regulatory Entity (ERS) has opened an administrative offense against Centro Hospitalar do Algarve EPE for forgetting a compress on the body of a user during a caesarean, a failure that the hospital had already also committed in 2018.

According to the text of the deliberation, the ERS says that the case dates back to January 2021, when a user underwent a caesarean section. Days after discharge, the patient returned to the hospital twice, with complaints of malaise and increasing pain.

The ERS explains that after the second return to the hospital, after examinations, the user underwent surgery to remove “a stranger” (a compress) that had been forgotten during the caesarean section, a fact assumed by the hospital with the user, who admitted that “the existence of an instrumental nurse in the teams could minimize this type of incident”.

The regulator also recalls that the health unit had already been the subject of another lawsuit for a similar situation (forgetting a compress in the mouth of a patient after surgery) and, since it did not respect the previous instructions of the ERS, it was decided to open an infringement process.

Since failure to comply with a rule or decision by the ERS is punished with a fine of between 1,000 euros and 44,891.81 euros, “an administrative offense proceeding was initiated against the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve, EPE”, explains the regulator, insisting that “the provider again committed the same negligent conduct and disrespect for the users’ right to access quality health care”.

“With his conduct, the provider disrespected the instruction that was previously issued to him due to identical facts”, underlines the ERS, insisting on the need for the hospital to “provide for the adequate allocation of instrumental nurses to the surgical teams”.

PSP caught burglar of houses in Portimão

A 24-year-old man, who was detained by the Public Security Police – PSP, was presented yesterday at the Criminal Investigation Court of Portimão, for first interrogation, for evidence of the practice of an attempted aggravated theft crime and two crimes of aggravated burglary.

According to a statement from the Faro District Attorney’s Office in March 2019, “in an urbanization in Portimão, the detainee went to a house, broke the glass in a kitchen window, entered the house and went to the living room, in which he was surprised by the owner’.

During this month, in the same urbanization, the individual went to a house, “climbed the surrounding wall and went to the back of the building where the glass in a kitchen window broke. After being able to enter the house, he remained inside for several days, having appropriated goods and drinks.

On February 5, in that urbanization, he went to another house, “opened the gate of the wall that enclosed it, accessed the main door and entered the house, having appropriated clothes and a cell phone, from the entrance hall.

Present in court, the detainee with a criminal record for crimes against property, was awaiting trial in preventive detention.

GNR seizes about 700 kilos of hashish in Fuseta

The Coastal Control Unit of the National Republican Guard (GNR) yesterday seized around 700 kg of hashish in Fuseta.

The Coastal Control Unit of the National Republican Guard (GNR), through the Olhão Coastal Control Sub-detachment, yesterday, Sunday, February 6, seized about 700 kilograms (kg) of hashish at the Fuseta Fishing Port, in the municipality from Olhao.

As part of its mission of surveillance, control and patrolling of the coast and territorial sea, in particular in the fight against narcotics trafficking by sea, the Integrated Surveillance, Command and Control System (SIVICC) detected a vessel sailing in hiding of lights and with a suspicious behaviour near Barra da Fuseta.

In view of the suspicions raised, Guard resources were immediately mobilized to the place, with the aim of approaching the suspicious vessel that, moments later, entered the Fuseta Fishing Port.

Following the police action, it was possible to intercept the vessel, which contained approximately 700 kilos of hashish (20 bales), thus preventing the disembarkation of the narcotic product and safeguarding the evidence.

So far it has not been possible to identify the suspects, who fled on foot in the presence of the GNR means.