Algarve Situation Report, Saturday 13^th March 2021.
Covid-19
The District Civil Protection Commission of Faro confirmed today that there are 427 active cases of Covid-19 in the Algarve.
According to data from the regional health delegate, 19,921 infected people were registered up until yesterday, another 30 in the last 24 hours and 19,153 recovered (cumulative).
There are 400 patients recovering at home, plus 27 inpatients, 7 in the Intensive Care Units and 5 ventilated. The same source says that since the beginning of the pandemic, 341 deaths have been registered in the region.
590 people are currently under active surveillance.
Compared to last week’s bulletin, 273 fewer active cases and 124 new cases are confirmed. Another 393 people are recovered.
There are 12 less hospitalized, 3 less patients in intensive care and 1 less ventilated (5). Under active surveillance there are 173 fewer people.

AMAL approved the economic recovery plan for the Algarve.
The 16 mayors of the region today approved, in an extraordinary meeting of the Intermunicipal Council, the Economic Recovery Plan for the Algarve and a regional strategy to combat the effects caused by Covid-19 on the economy.
A statement from AMAL states that the implementation of the plan provides, “on the one hand, to use public investment in order to enable the region to respond to the crisis and prepare it for the future, making it more cohesive, competitive, resilient and sustainable; and, on the other hand, to mobilize private investment in order to leverage the growth potential and the economic dynamism generated by the public component”.
Of the various items in the plan, the entity highlights a set of investments – 33 differentiating projects – for the region. Among them are the construction of the Hospital Central Universitário do Algarve; the development of the Commercial Port of Portimão; Faro European Capital of Culture; the ABC Loulé Project – Health Research Centre; construction of a seawater desalination infrastructure and the rehabilitation and electrification of the Algarve railway line.
The Economic Recovery Plan for the Algarve also includes several thematic packages, which aggregate the projects considered relevant for each of the municipalities in the Algarve.
The document now approved – and whose preparation work started last year, in close collaboration with the Faculty of Economics of the University of Algarve, is understood as a recommendation. “The fact that it is not watertight allows, over time, adjustments to be made according to the needs felt in the region”, reads the same statement.
In addition to this plan, the Algarve Intermunicipal Community – AMAL, says that it sent to the Government, within the scope of the public consultation of the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), its contributions with a survey of the investment needs and intentions proposed by the Municipalities of the Algarve, according to the priorities set by the European Union and Portugal for the next programming period.

International exercise «NeamWave21».
The Municipal Civil Protection Service of Portimão (SMPC) participated on Wednesday, March 10th, in «NeamWave21», an international simulation and response to a tsunami exercise, whose main objective was to test the readiness of this alert system.
Through this action, the municipality of Portimão joined the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection and the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and the Atmosphere, as well as other entities throughout the national territory, to test the communication procedures to be implemented after the arrival of the tsunami warning message.
The fictitious scenario outlined focused on the occurrence of an earthquake recorded at 09h07, whose epicentre was located close to the sea of ​​Morocco, with a magnitude of 8.6 on the Richter scale and a depth of 27 kms.
As a result, the Municipal Emergency Plan for Civil Protection of Portimão was tested sectorally, as well as the system of warning to the population inherent to the occurrence, which would have hypothetically resulted 924 fatalities, 3,089 displaced and 9,506 homes destroyed, among other considerable material damages. .
In accordance with the need to relocate the affected people, using 58 buses for this purpose, itineraries were drawn up for the ZCAP – Concentration and Support Zones for the Population, one in each parish of Portimão, and even to the temporary accommodation places, located in eight hotels in the municipality.
The experience, according to the municipality, “will allow to improve the tested procedures and mechanisms, to correct and adjust them, creating capacities and automating processes, all the more so since the Porto municipality is revising its Municipal Civil Protection Emergency Plan. This learning moment will make it possible to incorporate corrective measures in the new content, which will soon be submitted to public consultation”.

Municipality of Loulé launches local trade stimulus package that plans to support more than 600 companies.
This afternoon (Friday), the Municipality of Loulé will present a package of measures to mitigate the effects of this last confinement on the local economy, at 3 pm, at the Gama Lobo Palace, with live transmission on Facebook, having prepared a campaign to stimulate trade, in the initial amount of one million euros.
The campaign, promoted by the Municipality of Loulé in conjunction with ACRAL – Association of Commerce and Services of the Algarve Region and NERA – Business Association of the Algarve Region, in collaboration with the Association of Entrepreneurs Por Quarteira and Associação Restauração e Comércio e Restoration of the City of Loulé, which will start with the period of lack of definition, “intends to stimulate the local economy quickly and effectively”, says the municipality.
With this initiative, it is expected to support, in an initial phase, more than 600 companies.
Vítor Aleixo, a Louletan mayor, considers that “this initiative will make it possible to multiply the financial return for our traders, encouraging in an innovative way consumption in local commerce. This is another considerable and important support provided by the Municipality of Loulé, which, in addition to all the work and investment carried out in this area since the beginning of the pandemic, will now invest more than 1 million euros to respond in a clear and effective way to needs of the county’s micro companies, the sectors of activity most affected.”