Algarve Situation Report – Wednesday 13th January 2020
Covid.19: Vaccination has reached homes in the Algarve
Yesterday began the vaccination plan against Covid-19 in the Residential Structures for the Elderly (ERPI) and in the Units of the Integrated Continuing Care Network (UCCI) in the Algarve.
According to the Regional Health Administration of the Algarve (ARS), the vaccination of ERPI users and professionals and RNCCI units in the municipalities of Tavira and Albufeira is already planned, considering that they are two of the municipalities with the highest incidence of Covid-19 in the region, but can be extended to other municipalities throughout the week.
The first to be vaccinated, this morning (Tuesday), were the users and professionals of the Quinta da Palmeira Centre Home in Albufeira and the Media Duration and Rehabilitation Unit of the Tavira Integrated Continuous Care Network. In the afternoon, users and professionals of the Loulé Convalescence Unit and of the Long Term and Maintenance Unit of Vila Real de Santo António have also been vaccinated, notes the ARS.
Within the scope of the National Vaccination Plan against Covid-19, in this first phase, in accordance with the priorities defined by the DGS and the respective delivery of vaccines to the country, in addition to health professionals, the vaccination of users and professionals of all the ERPI and the RNCCI units in the region, by health teams from the three Health Centre Groups of the Algarve that will travel to these structures during the months of January and February.
Loulé Chamber intensifies measures to combat Covid with reinforced tests
The Municipality of Loulé informed that it is reinforcing measures to combat the pandemic, at a time when, similarly to what happens throughout the national territory, the municipality registers an increase in the number of cases of Covid-19, now appearing in the high risk counties map.
In a statement, the municipality states that it “closely follows” the evolution of the situation, either through the Office of Crisis Management Covid-19, which continues to meet four times a week, or by the Municipal Civil Protection Commission which, every Thursday, analyses and decides new measures to mitigate the impact of the disease in Loulé.
The municipality says it has promoted weekly screening of Covid-19, by sampling 11 residential structures for the elderly with less than 50 users, in a partnership with the IPSS and the Algarve Biomedical Centre (ABC). In the three Louletan institutions with more than 50 users, the screenings are carried out by the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, in partnership with ABC.
This Tuesday, nearly 400 tests were carried out in the municipality of Loulé on several fronts, namely at the Lar da Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Loulé, in the village of Cortelha, with the school community and in response to other identified needs.
President of AMAL says “new confinement price to pay for the irresponsibility” of families at Christmas
Portugal’s new confinement due to be announced on Wednesday is the “price to pay for the irresponsibility” of families at Christmas, said the president of the Algarve municipalities association (AMAL).
“It’s best we all prepare for a situation of general confinement. It is inevitable and will be the price to pay as a community for some people’s irresponsible behaviour,” António Pina said at the latest press conference about the state of the pandemic in the Algarve.
“It is up to each one of us to be responsible,” he said, adding that there’s “no point in asking the police, the government or anyone else to control the conscience and individual responsibility of each citizen”.
Meantime, regional health delegate Ana Cristina Guerreiro confirmed that most of the new Covid-19 cases have been linked to family gatherings during the festive period.
Said Guerreiro, the aim now is to keep the infected isolated and under surveillance, and to identify those with whom they have come into contact.
According to the health delegate, the virus has spread widely across the region, with only the smaller boroughs being spared thus far.
Portimão activates field hospital
The City Council of Portimão informs that, due to the worsening of the pandemic situation originated by Covid-19, this Sunday, January 10th, the field hospital installed since last April at the Portimão Arena was activated by the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve (CHUA). that has been on standby throughout this period.
The Portimão Campaign Hospital integrates, since the end of last year, phase 4 of the contingency plan established by CHUA, which is triggered when the reference hospital runs out of its inpatient capacity, requiring the use of external infrastructures.
The unit has 100 beds, 22 of which are articulated, together having three wards with single rooms (30 beds) and eight with multiple rooms (64 beds), in addition to a critically ill unit (six beds). It also has areas of clinical decision, medical support and sectorial meetings, as well as spaces for psychosocial support and provisioning, among other assets, not forgetting the areas of support and effort management of professionals who, from today on, are permanently, 24 hours a day, in this structure of response and reinforcement to the national health service (SNS).
This field hospital is duly equipped with medical equipment for monitoring, diagnosing and treating critically ill patients, representing an investment of 200 thousand euros by the City Council of Portimão.
Its benefits are not limited to the treatment of Covid-19, as it will also allow the Municipal Civil Protection to respond to other serious accident or catastrophe situations, such as earthquakes, tsunamis, large fires or other scenarios that cause a high number of victims.