Portugal Situation Report Wednesday 10^th March 2021

Introduction

Good morning – Yesterday was certainly highlighted with the inauguration of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa upon his second term as President of the Republic. Following a short ceremony he delivered a speech at the Assembly of the Republic highlighting those in the community who need support most during these difficult times: “the homeless, those without adequate housing, and those of his age or older who live in homes or at home in solitude or guarded by formal or informal caregivers”.

He mentioned that “We will have to rebuild people’s lives,” says Marcelo. “It is more than returning to 2019”, defends the President for whom it is necessary “good management, transparency and efficiency” in public management.

“There will only be real reconstruction if poverty decreases,” says Marcelo, assuming social cohesion as one of his missions.

It was a passionate and well received speech addressing the hardships many people face during this pandemic.

Since our last report on Saturday the general downward trend in hospitalisations, those in ICU, daily deaths has continued, although the number of new cases continues to fluctuate. There are positive signs, but although the Rt rate at 0.74 is currently the lowest in Europe, it has risen from 0.61 since mid-February.

The Minister of Health, Marta Temido, highlighted the three most important threats presented at the meeting on the epidemiological situation of Covid-19 in Portugal on Monday as i) “the increase in the risk of transmission”, ii) the situation of the variants and iii) the change in the confinement index “despite the legal context being the same” (in other words increasing movements of people).

At that meeting a plan for a five point criteria for de-confinement was proposed by experts based on different levels in municipalities, but with rates much lower that previously reflecting the reality of the current situation. This includes the resuming of face to face learning in schools. The President of the Republic, as is usual, will therefore listen to all the stakeholders involved before sending a draft decree as a framework to the Assembly of the Republic this week. The Council of Ministers will meet on Thursday to decide the measures to be contained in the extension of the State of Emergency.

One thing ministers will need to take into account, however, is the fact that there is the considerably increasing number of new cases in some of our neighbouring countries such as: France over 23,000 and Italy over 19,000 yesterday and further afield Czech Republic with 1395 cases per 100,000. The fact that the rates are increasing in most European countries means that considerable caution needs to be taken in relaxing any border restrictions.

Turning to civil protection there are two important exercises that are about to take place. The first of these is that the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection (ANEPC) and the Portuguese Institute for the Sea and the Atmosphere (IPMA) will carry out the NEAMWAVE’21 exercise today, March 10, between 8:30 am and 2:00 pm. NEAMWAVE’21 aims to test the effectiveness and readiness of the Tsunami alert system implemented in the Northeast Atlantic, Mediterranean and Connected Seas (NEAMTWS). There are no sirens or deployments

This is a communications exercise during which the various national and international players will exchange technical-operational notifications with each other related to the eventuality of an earthquake responsible for the generation of a tsunami with an impact on the Portuguese coast.

The second is the ANEPC participation on Thursday 11th March in the ConvEx 2-b exercise under the responsibility of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The exercise takes place in the context of the implementation of the International Conventions for Mutual Assistance and Rapid Notification in the event of a Nuclear Accident or Radiological Emergency. The exercise scenario relies on a fictional accident arising from the transportation of dangerous materials and involves the discovery of a radiological source. It is thus intended to test the communication and use of the Unified System for Information Exchange in Incidents and Emergencies, as well as training / exercising the issuing of requests and possible responses to requests for assistance of the various IAEA member states.

In fact, Safe Communities participated in one of these in 2018 in Castelo Branco and we learned a great deal from this.

An important announcement for British nationals is that SEF have confirmed to the British Embassy that if you arrived in Portugal before 31st December 2020, and you are not resident or don’t intent to become resident, and you are still in Portugal due to Covid-19 travel restrictions, you do not need a visa or further authorisation to stay in Portugal longer than 90 days. SEF has told the Embassy that this is because you were exercising your right to free movement when you arrived and you are not subject to immigration control.

If you have further queries about this you should contact SEF and be prepared to provide any supporting documentation that may be required.

For those who arrived after 31st December 2020, Schengen rules apply. This means you can stay in the Schengen Area visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Any stays beyond that will be dependent on rules applied by the Portuguese authorities.

With that news please – Have a Safe Day

Headlines

“It is possible to overcome this crisis, turn this page and rebuild the country”

Prime Minister António Costa and the Ministers of State, Economy and Digital Transition, Pedro Siza Vieira, State and Foreign Affairs, Santos Silva, State and Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, and State and Finance, João Leão, and the Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Duarte Cordeiro, represented the Government at the inauguration ceremony of the President of the Republic, which took place in the Assembly of the Republic.

In a statement to the press, the Prime Minister wished President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa “the greatest happiness in the exercise of this mandate that was renewed by the Portuguese”.

He added that, after the President’s inauguration speech “and at the end of such a hard year such as we have been facing collectively, to fight the pandemic, to resist the economic crisis and the social crisis, we all left with another spirit, comforted with the sense of hope and confidence that it is possible to overcome this crisis, to turn this page and rebuild the country”.

António Costa also said that there is “a very clear agenda, not only of institutional cooperation, but of strategic solidarity, which will surely unite the Portuguese, around the mandate of the President of the Republic”.

China launches digital health passport for international travel.

China has launched a digital health passport for its citizens, which can contribute to further opening up Chinese borders.

According to government sources, the “health certificate for international travel” is an application for smartphones that shows and verifies the vaccination history and the results of screening tests for the citizen’s Covid-19.

This passport is intended to “boost the global economic recovery and facilitate” international travel, said a spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

According to AFP, this passport will only be available to people of Chinese nationality and will not, for now, be mandatory.

China’s system includes an encrypted QR Code that allows each country to obtain health information from travellers, Chinese state agency Xinhua said.

The European Commission is expected to present the proposal for a “green passport” on 17th March.

Covid-19

This Tuesday Portugal registers another 30 deaths and 847 new cases of Covid-19, according to the epidemiological bulletin of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS). Details are as follows

Confirmed Cases: 811.306 (+ 847 / + 0.10 %)

Number of admitted: 1.278 (-125 /-8.91 %)

Number of ICU admitted: 312 (-30 /-8.77 %)

Deaths: 16.595 (+ 30 / + 0.18 %)

Recovered: 734.218 (+ 1872 / + 0.26 %)

Active Cases: 60,493 (-1055 / -1.7%)

Despite all this good news it is important not to let our guard down at this crucial time. Those in hospital and ICU remain high. This means complying with the rules in place, – wearing face masks, social distancing, hygiene and no social gatherings.

Health

Covid-19. Pfizer vaccine effective against variant in Brazil.

The vaccine against Covid-19 developed by Pfizer and BioNTech proves to be effective in neutralizing the Brazilian variant of the virus. The conclusion is drawn from a laboratory study, the results of which were published this Monday in the “New England Journal of Medicine”.

The scientists who conducted the study say the effectiveness is almost identical to the effect the vaccine has on an earlier, less contagious version of the virus.

University of Texas researchers analysed blood samples from people who have already been immunized. This allowed us to realize that the vaccine was able to neutralize a manufactured version of SARS-CoV-2 that contained the same mutations as the highly contagious variant identified in Brazil.

Pfizer had previously announced, based on previous studies, that the vaccine was able to respond to other variants, such as that of the United Kingdom and South Africa, despite the latter reducing the protective antibodies provided by the vaccine.

This means that Pfizer is already planning to introduce a third, booster dose, in addition to updating the vaccine to combat the South African variant.

CIP wants day care centres, education up to 6th grade, hairdressers and bookstores to open on Monday.

CIP – Confederação Empresarial de Portugal defends a phased deconfinement plan, with the opening, next Monday, of day care centers, kindergartens and education up to the sixth year, hairdressers, bookstores and used bookstores.

“The economy is closed. Portugal is not working, but the Portuguese are not staying at home!”, Says the CIP, led by António Saraiva, in a document that will be presented at the Government’s meeting with the social partners.

The CIP defends “a de-confinement plan that allows the safe reopening of the various activities and the stabilization of the perspectives for citizens and businessmen”.

Covid-19 Portuguese scientific community in the race for medicines and vaccines

The Covid-19 pandemic has mobilized, over the past year, a significant part of the Portuguese scientific community in the race for vaccines and therapies, including projects aimed at new drugs, cheaper vaccines or in new forms.

At the University of Beira Interior, work is being done on the creation of a nanovacin capable of preventing and treating the disease, the work of Dalinda Eusébio, and a PhD student in Biomedicine.

It is a DNA vaccine, which does not use, like conventional vaccines, a weakened form of the virus, but genetic information that leads the body to recognize components of the virus and to formulate an immune response to it, carried by Nano systems directed to specific cells.

The final form of this vaccine may be a dry powder, which can be administered nasally, without needles and stored outside refrigerators, which may reduce the cost of its production.

In partnership with the Centro Hospitalar Universitário de São João, in Porto, researchers from the Public Health Institute of the University of Porto (ISPUP) are evaluating the efficacy and safety of Montelukast, a medicine used in asthma therapy, as a complement to the treatment of Covid-19.

If the efficacy of this medication is proven, it can “improve the prognosis of patients, the lung and respiratory injuries resulting from SARS-CoV-2 and contribute to reducing the length of hospital stay”, ensures ISPUP.

Also in Porto, researchers from the Health Research and Innovation Institute (i3S) are developing a diagnostic tool for the 45-minute detection of SARS-CoV-2 based on CRISPR-Cas13a [a nucleic acid editing technology.

The “highly sensitive” technique will be able to detect baseline levels of genetic material when coupled with an isothermal amplification system, with the centre estimating that the price per sample is around one euro.

In Faro, the University of Algarve is studying the use of saliva as a sample to detect SARS-CoV-2, a less invasive method than the swab on the nose mucosa.

According to Clévio Nóbrega, from the UAlg Biomedicine Research Center (CBMR), the objective is to try to “validate other methods” for the collection of samples, especially for “children and people with some pathologies”, since the current PCR method is “Very invasive”.

Outbreak of Covid-19 in the home of Reguengos. Order of Doctors urgently requests sight IGAS inquiry.

The Order of Doctors will urgently request the documents related to the inquiry ordered by the Ministry of Health to the outbreak of Covid-19 in the Reguengos de Monsaraz home to analyze and be able to comment.

The conclusions of the IGAS survey, ordered by the Ministry of Health (MS) following the outbreak of covid-19 in the Home of the Maria Inácia Vogado Perdigão Silva Foundation (FMIVPS), in Reguengos de Monsaraz, admit “deontological responsibility” of the doctors who refused to visit the institution following instructions from the Order of Doctors and a union.

The information was released on Monday and the documents relating to the case will be sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Évora, where a criminal investigation is taking place, as well as to the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security (MTSSS).

In the note released on Monday, the MS also added that “the Minister of Health asked IGAS to issue and send to the competent entity the report of facts susceptible to deontological responsibility on the part of members of the organs of the Order of Doctors and unions involved”, the competent body being the Medical Association itself.

According to the survey, the illegality issues raised by doctors at local health centres to not visit home users resulted from “instructions received either from the Medical Association or from the SIM (Independent Medical Union), which raised in these a climate of doubt and concern, starting on July 2nd, 2020 “.

“Now, contrary to the positions taken by OM and SIM, IGAS concludes that the determinations of travel by health professionals to the FMIVPS home and to sanitary accommodation did not suffer from any illegality or other legal defect”, the document reads. of the MS, in which it was added that the visits had a legal framework in an order published in April 2020.

IGAS also said that a performance contrary to the stipulated conflict with the Doctors Code of Ethics, in the general principle of cooperation and in the due cooperation for the defence of public health.

Tourism

Tourism will ask the Government for “clear measures” for the sector to suspect. “It will be another blow to miss Easter”.

The de-confinement plan that the Government is going to present to the social partners this Wednesday is awaited with maximum expectation by the tourism sector, one of the most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

What we are going to ask the Government for is that the measures it is going to take are clear, transparent and timely, because tourist activities, whether hotels, restaurants or travel agencies, need time to prepare, such as stocks, etc.; we need to have predictability here to organize the operation “, says Francisco Calheiros, president of the Confederation of Tourism of Portugal (CTP).

“We are waiting to see what the Government wants to do and the de-confinement plan it is preparing. It is not up to us, employers’ confederations, to comment on the options that are taken for health security, what is up to us is to alert the Government for the economic consequences, particularly in tourism, if we want to keep the offer installed in the country “, stresses the president of CTP.

Francisco Calheiros stresses that “anything that is restrictive to people’s travels penalizes tourism companies”, so everything that contemplates the plan of the lack of definition to be announced by the Government is awaited with expectation by the sector.

The head of the tourism confederation also points out that “Easter is usually the start of the tourist season, and if it turns out, as it is likely, that Easter is lost, this is yet another blow to the eventual recovery and corporate profitability “.

Teleworking

Government argues that telework regulation should move forward quickly.

Miguel Cabrita, Assistant Secretary of State for Labour and Vocational Training, stated this Tuesday the need to “move fast” with the regulation of telework in order to maximize its opportunities and minimize risks.

The minister spoke at the end of a panel of the high-level conference on the future of work, under the Portuguese presidency of the European Union, stressing the importance of finding a “balance” between teleworking opportunities and risks, defending the need “to move forward quickly for the regulation “of this model, which” is no longer new “, but which was disseminated, albeit asymmetrically among countries, by the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We have to face the challenge of remote work in the context of the future of work, maximize its potential but minimize its risks, and these are challenges that challenge everyone, policy makers, but also the social partners, academia and people”, said Miguel Cabrita.

Covid-19- Resume the sale of take-away drinks now, asks AHRESP.

“Unjustified”. That is how AHRESP.- Association of Hotels, Restaurants and Similars of Portugal classifies the ban on the sale of drinks in take-away, reiterating the need for the measure “to be revoked”.

The objective is to prevent the consumption of products at the door of the establishment or in its surroundings, which is already prohibited, and not the sale, which only harms the already difficult situation of our companies”, says the association at a time when it is beginning talking about the model to follow in the deflation.

“The prohibition on catering and beverage establishments to sell any type of drink in the scope of take-away is not understood, including coffee”, reiterates AHRESP to add that the current situation “is absolutely incomprehensible”.

“The sale of drinks does not represent any added risk”, he justifies.

Enforcement

The PSP investigated 63,688 people and made 49 arrests between January 15th and March 1st as part of the mandatory confinement of citizens infected with the new coronavirus or under active surveillance by decision of the health authorities.

According to data from the Criminal Investigation Department of the National Directorate of the PSP, between January 15th (date when Portugal entered a new general confinement due to the worsening of the Covid-19 pandemic) and March 1st, 938 news reports were collected for the purposes of criminal proceedings.

Speaking to Lusa, sub intendent Carlos Lourenço, from the Criminal Investigation Department, said that in the Lisbon area 14 292 citizens were investigated, 17 people were arrested for non-compliance with the obligation of mandatory confinement and 733 documents were raised.

Despite the numbers, the sub intendent considered that the balance of this period is “very positive”: “These inspections allowed to control the main points of contagion. Today we have a decrease in the number of contagions and the situation is much better than in January”.

The inspection directed at the mandatory confinement of citizens diagnosed with Covid-19 or who are under active surveillance is carried out by criminal investigation agents to the civilian, on a daily basis, after the lists have been sent to them by the health authorities.

Unemployment Benefit

Ombudsman asks for solution for those who lost unemployment benefit between June and December 2020.

The Ombudsman’s Office today warned of the situation of people whose unemployment benefit ended by December 31st, 2020 and who were excluded from the measure that prolongs that support for another six months, asking for a solution.

At the origin of this alert are the more than two dozen complaints that came to the office of Maria Lúcia Amaral from people who, having seen their unemployment benefit end between June 30th and December 31st, 2020 and whose condition of resources did not allow them accessing social unemployment benefit, they fell into a situation of social deprotection since the automatic extension for another six months of the unemployment benefit provided for in the State Budget for 2021 (OE2021) includes only those who cease this benefit during the year of 2021.

In a letter sent to the Secretary of State for Social Security, Gabriel Basto, today published on the Ombudsman’s website, the Deputy Ombudsman, Joaquim Cardoso da Costa, argues that these people “should be given special attention in order to be social protection close to that foreseen for beneficiaries whose unemployment benefit ends in 2021”.

The OE2021 determines that “the periods of granting unemployment benefit that end in 2021 are, exceptionally, extended by six months”.

“In addition, when comparing the situation of beneficiaries whose unemployment benefits ended by 12/30/2020 with that of beneficiaries whose benefit will end in 2021, it is clear that the disparity in social protection conferred in both cases is clear”, says the letter.

The letter also recalls that the worker whose unemployment benefit ended between June 30th, 2020 and December 30th, 2020 and who did not access the social unemployment benefit because he did not meet the resource condition requirements, “may, at most and apparently, accessing extraordinary support for workers’ income (AERT) under the less favourable conditions established for access to it ”.

Spain extends restrictions on passengers from the UK, Brazil and South Africa

Spain extended until March 30th the restrictions in force for passengers entering the country from the United Kingdom, by air and sea, and also flights from Brazil and South Africa.

The decision announced today by the Spanish executive’s spokeswoman, María Jesús Montero, is taken to protect the health of citizens and control the spread of new variants of the Covid-19 virus.

With some exceptions, the travel in question can only be carried out when transporting exclusively Spanish citizens and residents in Spain, as well as residents of Andorra and their nationals, and passengers in international transit to a country that does not belong to the Schengen area with a stopover less than 24 hours and without leaving the transit zone of the Spanish airport.

According to the spokeswoman, the decision is part of the action determined by Madrid to protect the health and safety of the country’s citizens, contain the progression of the disease and strengthen the health and social and health systems, all following the recommendations in the field of European coordination in the fight against the pandemic.