Algarve Situation Report Saturday 25th July 2020
Covid-19 Statistics
The District Civil Protection Commission of Faro today revealed in a statement, based on data provided by the Health Authority, that there are 242 active cases in the Algarve.
So far 808 infected people have been registered, plus 5 in the last 24 hours with 549 recovered, equivalent to 67.9%.
10 people are hospitalized, 5 in the Intensive Care Units. The same source reports 17 deaths in the region. Under active surveillance are 589 people and 88 patients were discharged from hospital.
In relation to the bulletin sent last Friday, July 17, 10 fewer active cases in the region are confirmed, plus 45 cases from Covid.19 and another 35 recovered.
There is less 1 hospitalization, but 2 more in intensive care. The number of deaths is maintained (17). Under active surveillance there are fewer 119 people.
Another 5 patients were discharged from hospital.
President Regional Tourism Algarve reaction to travel corridor
The president of the Algarve Tourism Region (RTA) hopes that the British Government’s decision to keep Portugal off the list of safe destinations for travel , known today, will be “finally corrected next week, as updates to that list seem which are now weekly ”.
“There are changes all the time on the part of the British Government, let us hope that they finally get it right,” said João Fernandes, speaking to Sul Informação .
The official stressed that this is a decision that the RTA regrets and that “cannot be matched in what is the testimony, through many channels and in many ways, of those who know us best, who are the British who live among us”.
It is also not the opinion of “those who visit us and continue to visit”, he added, recalling that “we have connections to twenty airports in the United Kingdom that continue to operate since mid-June, with normality”.
“83% of British overnight stays in Portugal, at this time of year, happen in the Algarve and Madeira, which are specially prepared regions and with lower epidemiological rates than many of the countries that place travel restrictions on Portugal», he explained.
Reaction by president AHETA
The President of the Association of Hotels and Tourist Enterprises of the Algarve, transmitted said yesterday that the decision of the United Kingdom Government to maintain the exclusion of Portugal from the list of safe destinations, and for this reason to force passengers to quarantine, “is a huge disappointment”.
For Elidérico Viegas, the expectation was that the British would reverse the situation. The representative of the Algarve hoteliers, said that the numbers are not encouraging for the hotel industry, with similar activities such as the restaurant and tourist companies, also feeling the effects of the scarcity of British tourists He feared that the measure to remain if, “it not only compromises the activity in the high season, but also in the tourist golf sector, which starts from September and develops until November, being another important sector for the region’s economy”.
The president of AHETA, stresses that it would be positive if the measure were reversed, noting that in these assessments by the British Government “there appear to be criteria other than the pandemic”. As a result, he asks Portuguese diplomacy, to sweeten the decisions, “we know that some work has been done, probably more needs to be done”.
Elidérico Viegas speaks of an “atypical summer”, and recalls that the Algarve region is a safe destination, “since the hotel units reopened, no outbreaks in hotels have been heard, precisely because there is this care to be safe places” , concluded.
Other countries maintain restrictions on travellers from Portugal, such as Austria, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Finland or Belgium.