Algarve Situation Report Wednesday 14^th July 2021

 

Covid-19: 60% of people in the Algarve have already received a dose of the vaccine, 40% have a complete process.

60% of the population of the Algarve has already received at least one dose of a vaccine against Covid-19, while 40% has finished the process, according to the bulletin of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) this Tuesday, 13 of July.

Last week, the region broke a new record, administering 50,763 doses, a number never before reached. Compared to the last report, the region has 5% more residents on one dose and 7% on both.

In total, since December, 413,045 vaccines have been given in the Algarve.

Covid-19: Delta variant responsible for 100% of infections in the Algarve.

The Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to be dominant in all regions of the country, being already responsible for all cases of infections in Lisbon and Vale do Tajo and in the Algarve.

According to the report by the National Institute of Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge (INSA) released today, this variant, associated with India and considered more transmissible, has a prevalence of 86.6% in Portugal, while Alpha, and initially identified in the United Kingdom, only it was responsible for 10.2% of infections in the week of June 28th to July 4th.

The INSA further states that the Delta variant already has a prevalence of 100% in the Lisbon and Vale do Tajo and Algarve regions, 88.2 in the North, 81.8 in the Center, 95% in Alentejo, 62.5 % in the Azores and 79.2% in Madeira.

“Among other variants of interest in circulation in Portugal, the variant/lineage B.1.621 stands out, initially detected in Colombia, which has shown a relative frequency of around 1% in recent weeks”, says the study on diversity genetics of the new coronavirus in Portugal.

According to the document, this “variant of interest” has several mutations in the `spike’ protein that are shared with some “variants of concern”.

The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies the virus variants as “concern” (VOC) or “interested” (VOI), having assigned, at the end of May, the designation of letters of the Greek alphabet to facilitate understanding.

They came from Belgium just to clean up the Ria Formosa.

Despite all the constraints on the movement of people, resulting from the restriction measures imposed by the governments due to the health crisis caused by Covid-19, the Association for the Study and Conservation of the Oceans (AECO) once again received scouts from various regions of the country this year, including Belgium, to participate in their “traditional” awareness and clean-up campaigns in the Ria Formosa.

The association based on the University of Algarve’s Campus de Gambelas, informed that this year, the teams concentrated their efforts on Faro beach and managed to cover about 5 km outside the urbanized area, removing plastics and other non-biodegradable materials, such as masks, personal protection and single-use metal packaging.

“Nature conservation cannot wait” stressed Ricardo Barradas member of the AECO. After a year of stoppage, continuing “the support of the Municipality of Faro and Algar was essential for us to return to the field. Realizing that there is more and more to be done, it seems that instead of reducing we are producing more and more waste”.

In addition to garbage collection, the young people collaborated in activities to refurbish public facilities, painting rusty railings and gates or removing weeds from the soccer field on the beach.

Covid-19: Hospitals in the Algarve have 50% capacity for patients.

Hospitals in the Algarve have 60 patients in Covid-19 wards, 13 of which are in intensive care, which represents about 50% of the capacity of phase 2 of the contingency plan, said today a source at the Hospital Center.

“Right now, we have 50% of our total intensive care capacity destined for covid patients, which does not affect other services, with hospitals in normal operation,” said one of the members of the board of directors of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve (CHUA), Paulo Neves.

According to the official, the 50% refers to the capacity of beds foreseen for phase 2 of the contingency plan, with the Algarve hospitals “still having room to increase this capacity, if necessary.”

“We have a contingency plan that can be adjusted and increased according to needs, but we have the perspective of not having a substantial increase in the number of cases of the disease”, he indicated.

According to Paulo Neves, the perspective “has to do with the number of cases registered on average in the last four days, given that, in that period, there was no significant variation in the number of admissions in hospitals in the Algarve”.

“Our forecast is that the trend that has been seen since the beginning of the month of people needing hospitalization will continue, although we are prepared to respond to a possible increase in severe cases of the disease”, he stressed.

In the official’s opinion, “vaccination coverage is playing an important role in the number of serious cases and deaths” related to the disease in the Algarve, exemplifying with the low number, four, of patients hospitalized in intensive care needing assisted ventilation”.