Portugal Situation Report Wednesday 23^rd February 2022

Introduction

Good morning – We start with the unseasonably warm weather and lack of rain. Yesterday morning the minimum air temperature in some parts of the Algarve was 16C – that is higher than the MAXIMUM air temperature in the region for this time of the year. On Tuesday maximum air temperatures reached 26.3 in Zambujeira and with relative humidity levels as low as 17% the conditions are certain right for rural fires. Having eight municipalities at VERY HIGH risk today is very unusual for this time of the year and reflects the extreme weather we are experiencing.

It was of concern therefore on Monday when the IPMA released its monthly drought report showing that: more than 90% of the territory was in severe or extreme drought on February 15, according to the Portuguese Institute of the Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA), which indicates a new worsening of the meteorological drought situation in the country.

Having spoken to Civil Protection officials in the last few days the view is that we are in for a difficult year if this situation continues. As I mentioned last week it is important now to carry out land cleaning around your property and not to wait until weather conditions may prohibit the burning of debris or the use of metal-bladed equipment used to cut bushes etc. Do not forget to register the burn (or obtain authorisation when the risk is very high) and to follow the safety measures in place. Whereas the fire risk is higher today, tomorrow through to Saturday the risk is far lower, so chose your day carefully.

Ukraine

Turning to the Ukraine situation, which is currently dominating headlines. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed, on Monday night, a decree recognizing the breakaway regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, in the Donbass (east), and ordered the entry of Russian armed forces into those Ukrainian territories on a mission of “peacekeeping”.

Russian recognition of Ukraine’s two breakaway regions clearly violates the Minsk agreements and jeopardizes Ukraine’s territorial integrity. This action has been strongly condemned by various European leaders, including Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa President of the Republic of Portugal, as well as US President Joe Biden, expressing full solidarity with Ukraine.

Ominously yesterday President Putin asked the Russian Federation Council, the upper house of Parliament, for authorization to use the armed forces outside the country. It could be the first step towards a more comprehensive attack on Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin made the request during a session broadcast live on the Federation Council’s website. On the same occasion, one of the Defence Secretaries of State argued that the country had no option but to embark on the use of force across borders. He added that Western-brokered peace agreements seeking to end a conflict in eastern Ukraine no longer existed, after he recognised the independence of the ex-Soviet country’s separatist regions.

A transformer at a power station in Ukraine’s Luhansk region was set alight due to shelling on February 22, the country’s State Emergency Service (SES) said.The SES said the shelling came from “temporarily uncontrolled territory.”

The Russian government announced yesterday that it has taken the decision to withdraw diplomatic personnel from Ukraine for the protection, life and safety of Russian diplomats. A mission that will move forward immediately.

Apart from the immediate concern of whether or not there will be a full scale invasion, which some western leaders are expecting, there are many other implications of these moves which extend well outside the region – one of them economic.  The tension in Ukraine has sent European stocks down. The Moscow stock exchange has even itself suffered the biggest drop since the 2008 crisis. Another is that the TTF (Title Transfer Facility) natural gas price for March delivery rose 7% on the Dutch market today at around 9:30 am in Lisbon, to 77 euros per megawatt hour (MWh), due to rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

Europe is the main customer for Russian oil and natural gas and is therefore the main source of revenue for Moscow.

The EU and UK has imposed a number of economic sanction of Russia and Germany has suspended the certification of the Nord Stream 2 Gas Pipeline, which was due to start operating earlier this year. Last night the Secretary General of NATO, confirmed that its Response Force was on a high state of alert but not yet been deployed. President Biden also said the United States would continue to supply “defensive” weapons to Ukraine against a Russian invasion and deploy more US troops to reinforce NATO allies in Eastern Europe. He added that there was still time to avert the “worst case scenario” of a bloody full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine through diplomacy.

Whether the measures so far announced will be enough to send a signal to President Putin that such threats and aggression will not be tolerated remains to be seen. Some in the UK are commenting that the measures so far announced by the UK Government do not go far enough. Clearly this is a fast moving and very dangerous situation and the next few hours and days may well determine any further escalation of the situation.

With that have a Safe day.

Covid-19

COVID-18 DGS REPORT TUESDAY 22^ND FEBRUARY 2022

Confirmed: 3,206,281 (+13,103 / +0.41%)

Admitted: 1,763 (-69 / -3.77%)

Admitted to ICU: 111 (-3 / -2.63%)

Score: 20,894 (+28 / +0.13%)

Recovered: 2.717.509 (+20813 / +0.77%)

Active cases: 467,873 (-13,103 / -1.62%)

TRENDS

New cases higher than yesterday but below last week’s daily average.

A large decrease in hospitalisations after yesterdays’ moderate decrease.

Number in ICU continues to decrease.  Now near 40 below the average over the last 5 weeks

Deaths lower than yesterday and well below last week’s daily average (43).

Another moderate decrease in active cases just below yesterday’s decrease

 

HEALTH

The new strain of the Omicron variant is responsible for almost half of the infections in Portugal.

“The predictive value of this indicator to identify suspected cases of the BA.2 lineage is now more robust, so it is estimated that this lineage represents 42.5% of positive samples on February 20, 2022”, says the diversity report “genetics of SARS-CoV-2” from the National Institute of Health Doutor Ricardo Jorge, released this Tuesday.

BA.2 has many different mutations from the original variant, although it has not yet been proven to cause more severe disease.

According to the WHO, “preliminary studies suggest that BA.2 appears to be more transmissible than BA.1”, but the organization notes that real-world data on clinical severity in South Africa, the United Kingdom and Denmark, where immunity from vaccination and natural infection is high, indicate that “there was no reported difference in severity between BA.2 and BA.1”. 

Covid-19: self-scheduling for children aged five to 11 with a new date

Scheduling for vaccinating children on February 26 and 27 is now available

Self-scheduling of the first dose of vaccination is now available for children aged 5 to 11 years, on the weekend of February 26 and 27. On this new date, it is again possible to choose the most convenient location, “according to the availability and installed capacity of the existing vaccination posts”.

You can request an appointment on the Online Appointment Portal until 11:59 pm on Wednesday. Self-scheduling had already been available in this age group for last Saturday (19).

According to the statement sent to the newsrooms, “the administration of second paediatric doses to children who received the first dose between January 6 and 9 will take place, “simultaneously”, in which case the scheduling is done centrally through SMS. (2424)”. 

Covid-19: Order of Doctors ‘closes’ crisis office, as Portugal has “definitely entered a new phase”  

Two years after being constituted, the Crisis Office of the Order of Doctors against Covid-19 ceases to function. The announcement was made this Tuesday by the President of the Order, Miguel Guimarães: “The pandemic is not over yet, but at a time with almost the entire Portuguese population vaccinated and/or immunized by the disease, and in which we are heading towards an endemic disease, we have entered definitively in a new phase, so the Crisis Cabinet formally ceases its usual functions.” And, he adds, “it will be transformed to respond to the needs of the present and the future”.

In the note sent, the chairman stresses that the office “was a decisive structure in the alerts it launched and in the recommendations it made to ensure that Portugal responded better to this international public health emergency”. Comprised of specialists from various areas, appointed at national level, “the office contributed, in a unique way, to the clarification of the population and to the adherence to the necessary measures at each moment, having been probably the most solid and consistent structure in the way in which it monitored the different phases of the pandemic”.

Miguel Guimarães recalls “that, on a proposal from the Crisis Office, it was possible to create synergies with the Instituto Superior Técnico to develop the Pandemic Monitoring Indicator, an alternative to the risk matrix that allows for a faster and more complete monitoring of the impact of the pandemic and that, in this phase of the withdrawal of restrictions, it has proved to be, once again, very useful – allowing to suggest weeks before many of the measures that would now be accepted by the Government”.

Self-scheduling of the first dose of vaccination is now available for children aged 5 to 11 years, on the weekend of February 26 and 27. On this new date, it is again possible to choose the most convenient location, “according to the availability and installed capacity of the existing vaccination posts”.

Other news

Driving under the influence more than doubles in January 2022

More than 600 people were arrested in January 2022 for driving under the influence of alcohol, PSP warns

In January 2022, the Public Security Police (PSP) counted 666 driving crimes with a blood alcohol level equal to or greater than 1.2 g/l. According to “Jornal de Notícias”, there was an increase compared to January of last year (241), of 141% of this type of road crime, that is, more than double.

According to data for the month of January, in the last four years “the average number of arrests for driving under the influence of alcohol is 468”, explained a source from the PSP. The average number of crimes – not necessarily including arrests – for driving under the influence is 545 between 2018 and 2021.

In total, in 2021, six thousand people were caught driving drunk on the road, according to provisional data presented by the PSP. That same year, there were also 50 crimes of homicide by negligence in road accidents.

Truth Social: Trump launches new social network a year after being banned from Twitter

In just a few hours, ‘Truth Social’ has now become the most downloaded free application on Apple’s online store. However, some users found it difficult to create an account in the application.

“Due to the huge demand, we put you on a waiting list. We love you and you are not just a number for us”, indicates the message received by internet users who saw their attempts to access the new social network frustrated.

Other users who had pre-registered on the app were unable to complete their registration, receiving an error message during the final step.

On the other hand, personalities close to Trump, who had access to a test version of the application even before its launch, are already present on the platform.

This is the case of Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, a promoter of conspiracy theories, who on Sunday published images of her first publications on ‘Truth Social’ on the social network Twitter, whose appearance resembles that of Twitter.

“I’m on Truth Social! As the only member of Congress to have my personal Twitter account banned, I understand what millions of conservatives have gone through having their personal freedom of expression stolen by tech giants for not wanting to repeat authorized speeches,” wrote Marjorie Taylor Greene. .

The social network ‘Truth’ was presented by Donald Trump as an alternative to Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, platforms from which he was banned after the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021, having been accused of inciting the violence.