Algarve Situation Report  Saturday 1st May 2021

 

Aljezur maintains highest incidence in the Algarve, Portimão below Lagos and VRSA

Aljezur, with 465 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants, in 14 days, remains, for the second consecutive week, the Algarve municipality with the highest incidence of Covid-19, according to data released this Friday, April 30, by the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).

Even so, Aljezur has a lower incidence than a week ago, when it had 501 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants.

These numbers were so high that they justified the decision taken yesterday in the Council of Ministers to make the Costa Vicentina municipality retreat in the process of deflation, returning to the phase of 5 April. The restaurants will only be able to operate with a terrace – and 4 people – until 10:30 pm during the week and 1:00 pm at the weekend.

Interestingly, according to DGS data, referring to the period between 14 and 27 April, Portimão, with 159 cases / 100 thousand inhabitants, had a lower incidence than Lagos (171), or Vila Real de Santo António (181), both municipalities that from tomorrow follow the rest of the country entering the fourth and final phase of deflation.

Portimão, on the other hand, was forced to maintain itself, at least another week, in the previous phase to which it had retreated fifteen days ago (closed terraces, sales to the wicket/entrance). Mayor Isilda Gomes has already announced that today, at the end of the afternoon, she will have an emergency meeting with Prime Minister António Costa to talk about this matter.

Returning to the 14-day cumulative incidence data, by municipality, Alcoutim and São Brás de Alportel are the only municipalities in the Algarve that have zero incidence, since they have not registered any new case of Covid-19 for at least three weeks.

https://www.sulinformacao.pt/2021/04/aljezur-mantem-incidencia-mais-alta-do-algarve-portimao-abaixo-de-lagos-e-vrsa/

 

The Mayor of Portimão, Isilda Gomes, will meet today with urgency with the Prime Minister

Portimão, Faro, April 30, 2021 (Lusa) – The Mayor of Portimão, Isilda Gomes, will meet today with urgency with the Prime Minister following the Government’s decision to keep the municipality in the same phase of the deflationary process it was announced today.

In a statement, the municipality indicated that the hearing requested “as a matter of urgency” from the prime minister, is scheduled for 18:00, at the São Bento Palace, in Lisbon.

The meeting was requested by Isilda Gomes (PS) “due to the decisions taken on Thursday in the Council of Ministers, which prevent Portimão from resuming the process of deflation”.

Isilda Gomes, cited in the note from the municipality of the district of Faro, expressed “great disappointment by the decision taken [by the Government], felt, once again, as a huge injustice”.

Portimão, which retreated to the second phase of the deflation 15 days ago, is one of eight municipalities out of 278 in mainland Portugal that does not advance on Saturday to the fourth and last phase of the deflation plan defined by the Government with the country’s entry into a situation of calamity, replacing the state of emergency.

Also prevented from proceeding to the fourth phase are Miranda do Douro, Paredes and Valongo, which remain at the level they are at, and Aljezur, Resende, Carregal do Sal, who retreated to different stages, but who are also retained, although may be “for a very short time”, because the Government has decided to carry out a weekly assessment.

According to data released by the municipality, Portimão counted on Thursday 39 active cases of infections by covid-19 in the municipality, a number below the limit of 67 cases, based on 120 per 100 thousand inhabitants.

In the accumulated period of 14 days used by the Government to define the rules of the deflation, there was a reduction of 200 cases in Portimão, accounting for an accumulated of 70 cases on Thursday, but only 39 of which were active.

The evaluation criteria used by the Government to define the rules of lack of definition have been criticized by the mayors, considering that they do not reflect the reality of cases of covid-19, unfairly penalizing the populations.

Algarve Situation Report Wednesday April 28th

 

Covid-19: Aljezur asks the Government to review contagion accounting criteria.

The Mayor of Aljezur, asked the Government to revise the formula for accounting for contagions by Covid-19 and to take into account the particularity of each municipality.

After an extended meeting of the civil protection commission this afternoon, José Gonçalves told Lusa that temporary workers “are not counted” in the population of about 5,800 inhabitants of the municipality, a value that serves as the basis for calculations of the confinement rules , but “if they become infected, they are included”.

“We need to change this. It is an injustice. The contagion situation is not addressed in this way” he stated.

In Aljezur, “14 infected people” are needed for the municipality to reach the level of 240 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants in 14 days, a value from which there is a greater restriction on the lack of definition.

In the bulletin released last Friday, the municipality of Aljezur recorded 501 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants in 14 days, referring to the period between 07 and 20 April.

On March 11, at the presentation of the de-confinement plan, the Prime Minister, António Costa, warned that the reopening measures will be revised whenever Portugal exceeds “120 new cases per day per 100 thousand inhabitants in 14 days” or whenever the R(t) – the average number of secondary cases that result from a case infected by the virus – exceeds 1.

Formula 1 has already arrived at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, in Portimão.

The biggest motorsport competition has already arrived in Portugal, for the third race of this year. The teams’ trucks and motorhomes already fill the parking lot of the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve and the paddock for the Formula 1 Heineken Grande Prémio de Portugal, which takes place this weekend.

The first two races of the 2021 season were marked by intensified competition between Max Verstappen, a Red Bull driver, and Lewis Hamilton, of Mercedes.

Both with 1 victory conquered in the season so far, everything indicates that next Sunday we will see a very intense race.

In his last race in Portugal, Hamilton became the driver with the most victories in F1 history, in the year he won his 7th world title.

This weekend could be marked by another record for Lewis Hamilton, who could become the first F1 driver to reach 100 pole positions.

Algarve Situation Report Saturday 24th April 2021

PS Algarve wants more tests and vaccination in critical counties

President of the Socialist Party (PS) Algarve and socialist deputies want more tests and vaccination in municipalities with more than 120 and 240 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants.

The president of the PS Algarve Federation, Luís Graça and the Socialist Party deputies elected by the Algarve, asked the government for exceptional measures to mitigate and combat the pandemic in the municipalities where there are more than 120 and 240 positive cases per 100 thousand inhabitants, as well as support to companies that, after reopening their business, may have to close again.

In a meeting this Monday, April 19, with the Secretary of State responsible for the coordination of COVID-19 in the Algarve and the Regional Health Administration on the pandemic situation and the vaccination process in the region, the parliamentarians Luís Graça, Jamila Madeira, Joaquina Matos, Ana Passos, and Francisco Oliveira recalled that the Algarve is a safe region, where globally the Rt index is below 1, considering that the outbreaks verified in some municipalities need a more prompt and incisive action by the authorities in order to quickly stop the transmission of the virus by the community.

In this sense, they propose, as in Lisbon, the creation of a special coordination commission in the municipalities where there are more than 240 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants.

 

Ryanair will operate Belfast and Faro route this summer

Low-cost airline Ryanair announced today that it will operate this summer the route between George Best airport in Belfast and Faro airport.

Ryanair has reduced rates for all new bookings made before June 30 this year, for travel until October 31 this year, the low cost airline said in a statement.

Belfast Airport’s Aviation Development Officer, Ellie McGimpsey, said he was “excited” about re-establishing the connection between Faro and Belfast, the statement said.

 

 

 

MotoGP Grand Prix in Portimão generated almost 7 million euros of media return in national media

The MotoGP Grand Prix returned to Portugal, more specifically to the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, in Portimão, and returned to arouse strong media interest around the race: the event that took place on Sunday, April 18, generated almost 1,600 news in Portuguese media.

According to the Clipping Media monitor service, of the Marktest Group, in the week between April 14 and 20, 1,599 news items were identified in the Portuguese media, which represented a financial return of 6.632 million euros.

Media monitor’s analysis finds that the vast majority of the news was published in online media (1,135), at a great distance from the press (67 news), radio (101) and television (296).

Even so, it was television that led the media return associated with the competition: the 296 news items identified on national channels translate an estimated return of more than 4.3 million euros, which means two thirds (66%) of the total financial return that the event spawned in the Portuguese media.

 

Tavira will exempt payment of rent for municipal housing until the end of the year

The municipality of Tavira will exempt, until the end of the year, 570 tenants from paying municipal housing rents.

This decision by the municipality follows a set of exceptional and temporary measures to minimize the impact of the crisis that is reflected in the social fabric.

“The economic and social vulnerability of families comes from the loss of jobs and, consequently, a drop in household income”, says the local authority.

“The financial health of many companies, particularly in the tourism sector, has been considerably affected, putting hundreds of jobs at risk and a significant number of families have seen their monthly budget drop dramatically,” he adds.

In view of this reality, the municipality “considers it essential to reinforce support in terms of social action”, assuming that the recovery of household income will be slow and progressive.

“The growing demand for social responses of primary necessity led to the duplication of face-to-face assistance, with a particular focus on the level of food aid, as well as assistance in supporting essential expenses (water, electricity, and medication, among others)”, he concludes.

https://www.algarveprimeiro.com/d/camara-de-tavira-aprova-isencao-do-pagamento-de-rendas-de-habitacao-municipal-ate-ao-fim-do-ano/37901-4

 

Algarve Situation Report, Wednesday April 14th 2021

 

Schools in the Algarve with 13 outbreaks and 42 classes in isolation – authorities.
The Algarve has 13 outbreaks of Covid-19 in day care centres, kindergartens and elementary schools, with 42 classes in isolation, a total of 101 people involved, including students and staff.
According to the regional health delegate, compared to previous periods, there is now “a greater incidence in children”, with infected children who “managed to make more than 20 secondary cases”, transmitting the virus within the classroom and to their families.
“We noticed at this stage, as of March 15, that there were more positive children than there would have been in previous situations. We attribute this to a possibility that the virus [now] has a greater appetite for younger age groups”, underlined Ana Cristina Guerreiro at a press conference in Loulé.
However, despite the increase in the number of cases in schools, the official stressed that the sites of transmission of the new coronavirus “continue to be, in most cases, inside homes”, with “whole” families infected, partly because if you “lost your fear” of the disease.
According to Ana Cristina Guerreiro, there is also an increase in the number of children infected and showing symptoms, although it is a mild symptom, characterized by “diarrhoea, cough and rhinorrhoea [excessive runny nose]”.
Regarding the outbreak in two schools in the parish of Montenegro, in Faro, Ana Cristina Guerreiro said that the epidemiological situation is “contained” and that children and their families in isolation, although over the 14 days of isolation, new cases may arise related with this outbreak.
https://www.algarveprimeiro.com/d/Covid-19-escolas-no-algarve-com-13-surtos-e-42-turmas-em-isolamento-autoridades/37713-1

PSP ends illegal party in Faro that involved 18 people.
The Public Security Police (PSP) went yesterday to a residence in the city of Faro, where a private party was supposedly taking place.
On the Facebook page of the Faro District Command of the PSP, it is read that when the agents arrived at the place, they encountered a private party, in which the door of the residence was open, “with a group of about 18 citizens, 5 women and 13 men, of different nationalities, mostly students, many of them completely drunk, with food scraps and bottles of drinks scattered on the floor and tables.”
In addition to ending the party, the PSP identified 16 people, 16 administrative offences were recorded for failure to comply with the duty of home collection, and a news report was prepared sent to the court because there were indications of the practice of a crime of common danger. Two more charges were also raised to the promoters of the event.

Pina condemns “unnecessary alarmism” that harms the Algarve.
Comments on the pandemic situation in the Algarve “are unfair and incorrect” laments António Miguel Pina.
At the regional press conference on the epidemiological situation in the Algarve, which took place on Monday, April 12, António Miguel Pina, president of AMAL – Intermunicipal Community of the Algarve, wanted to clarify that “some comments on the lack of testing capacity in the region are not true, they are unfair and incorrect”.
“There is a great capacity and there is even a great capacity that powers it”, he stated, giving as an example the Portimão City Council, which due to the outbreak in the civil construction sector made “more than five thousand tests”.
The important question, according to the Mayor of Olhão, “is to remove some alarmism in communication, which occurred in the last week, regarding the image of the Algarve. Almost half of the cases in the region originated in just two outbreaks. Everything indicates that the situation of these outbreaks is controlled, as a result of the great work of public health and the City Council of Portimão. We hope that by the end of the week the situation will calm down, but this is a message that needs to be conveyed”.
The President of AMAL added that “the country looked at the Algarve in the last week and wondered what was going on here. What happens is what will happen in the rest of the country and we will get used to living in these small waves. Two outbreaks appear, it increases significantly, a lot of tests are done, we control and it decreases. You can come back later. It is necessary to be calm and not enter into unnecessary alarmism”.
https://barlavento.sapo.pt/algarve/pina-condena-alarmismo-desnecessario-que-prejudica-o-algarve

Mayor of Vila Real de Santo António arrested on suspicion of corruption.
Mayor of the municipality was not in the premises and was detained. At issue is the sale of land to the construction company. PGR reported that four people were arrested on suspicion of corruption, undue receipt of advantage and abuse of power in the intermediation of a real estate business in Monte Gordo.

Algarve Situation Report, Wednesday 7th April 2021.
Faro: “Estaminé” rises from the ashes to open again in July
The only restaurant on Ilha Deserta, in Faro, which burned down on March 2nd, will rise again.
The team of the company “Animaris”, which will give shape to the project, returned to the island to start the debris removal work. The 33 employees of the company join the owner of the restaurant José Vargas, who, with the support of his family, decided not to let his arms down and set out to rebuild the well-known “Estaminé”.
According to José Vargas, the structure will be identical to the previous one, “a self-sufficient restaurant that respects, protects and is fully integrated into the landscape and the surrounding nature”.
The reconstruction of the structure can be followed through the social networks: instagram and facebook of the restaurant, where an updated photo of the process will be shared every week.
The goal is to reopen the space next July.
It is recalled that after the fire, the restaurant owner estimated the damage caused by the flames at more than one million euros, taking into account that the destruction was total.

Requalification and expansion of the Misericórdia de São Brás de Alportel Nursing Home has a cost of 2 million.
In São Brás de Alportel, the project for the expansion and requalification of the entire Home for the Third Age of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia is underway.
According to a note from the Municipality, the work on the building of the Residential Structure for the Elderly (ERPI), Day Center and Home Support Service of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia of São Brás de Alportel will allow the replacement of 85 beds, in cooperation with the Social Security.
The extended area that will be built from scratch, will have 12 new double rooms, a living room and activities with pantry. The existing area will be preserved, whose remodeling “aims to improve the comfort of those who work and live in this space”, points out the municipality.
The execution of the project prepared by Arquitrulho, Lda, was awarded to the company Martins Gago & Filhos, Lda, for the value of 2,091,922.95 euros.
An investment that is financed by community funds from Portugal 2020 – CRESCAlgarve, but also with support from the Rainha D. Leonor Fund (Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa and União das Misericórdias Portuguesas) and the Municipality of São Brás de Alportel.
https://www.algarveprimeiro.com/d/requalificacao-e-ampliacao-do-lar-de-terceira-idade-da-misericordia-de-sao-bras-de-alportel-tem-um-custo-de-2-milhoes/37617-4

Algarve Situation Report, Saturday 3rd April 2021.
Covid-19. Portimão is the municipality of Algarve with the highest incidence of cases.
Portimão is the municipality of the Algarve with the highest incidence of cases per 100 thousand inhabitants. An outbreak in civil construction has already required more than 500 tests to be carried out, of which 89 were positive.
The municipality appeals to the use of the mask and the safety distance and reminds that if in the next 15 days the situation does not improve, the deflation remains at stake, which will be catastrophic for the municipality’s economy.
On average there are 20 new cases a day in Portimão. Most are people who were already isolated, having had risky contacts, and who, in the meantime tested positive.
The construction boom began in mid-March and has already put 563 people in isolation, 89 of whom tested positive. Another contagion focus in Portimão included a bakery, but the outbreak is already under control.

Covid-19: Cost of social support “skyrockets” in municipalities in the Algarve most dependent on tourism.
The cost of social support provided by the municipalities in the Algarve most dependent on tourism ‘skyrocketed’ due to the fall in the economy resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in the three municipalities that currently concentrate half of the region’s unemployed.
According to data from the Institute of Employment and Professional Training (IEFP), Albufeira, Portimão and Loulé totalled 52% of the 33,459 unemployed registered in the region in February, with the support created by the municipalities and directed to companies and families to have a strong impact on their budgets. .
In Albufeira, support for “donating” of “food” and “medication” to people in need “has increased exponentially”, revealed the President of the municipality to Lusa, in addition to the support created in the context of the pandemic.
“Adding up everything that was not received with what was spent for all the aid, there is a reduction of 17, 18 million euros, in one year [in the budget]”, pointed out José Carlos Rolo.
This amount ended up affecting the finances of the municipality, which concentrates a good part of the Algarve hotel offer, which may postpone “some works”, mainly “in the road network”, which will have to wait for “better days”, he assumed.
The mayor expressed hope that this summer, similarly to what happened last year, the “Portuguese people head to the Algarve, in particular to Albufeira” to spend their holidays, as well as the “Spanish neighbours”.
“We have to be hopeful in the future and I think that within a month we will have tourists enjoying what is good for the Algarve and Albufeira”, he stressed.
However, if the current situation continues, José Carlos Rolo argues that they will have to “take options again” and not let “more serious situations happen”, maintaining “social support to people really in need”.
He took the opportunity to make an “appeal” to anyone who may be in need so that he is not “ashamed” of something he “is not responsible for” and stressed that one cannot “let people be hungry in Albufeira”.

Silves. Cultural and sports facilities reopen on April 5.
Following the guidelines of the de-confinement plan defined by the Government, the Municipality of Silves will reopen to the public, on the 5th of April, the Castle, the Municipal Archeology Museum, the Islamic Heritage Interpretation Centre and the Sports Complex of the Municipal Swimming Pools (in the gym and free swimming facilities).
In a press release, the municipality says that, the cultural facilities mentioned above, in addition to maintaining the same operating patterns previously in force, will be operating within their normal opening hours.
With regard to the Municipal Swimming Pools Complex, the operating patterns will be identical to those previously adopted, with mandatory marking of the use of the gym and the pool in free swimming regime. The gym, limited to the use of a maximum of 15 people at the same time, will operate from 7:30 am to 9:00 pm, in hourly blocks of 90 minutes. The pool, in free regime, can be used between 7:30 am and 4:30 pm, with a limit of eight users per hour block of 90 minutes. The use of changing rooms is only permitted for the purpose of changing clothes, with all other services (shower, sauna, jacuzzi and Turkish bath) closed.

Company fined for non-compliance in Ria Formosa says it is unaware of breaches.
A real estate company fined for violating the regulation of the Ria Formosa Natural Park Planning Plan due to movements in the land it holds in the Garrão area, in Loulé, said today it was unaware of “any administrative offense”.
“Lisfina is not aware of any misdemeanour, either on the placement of barbed wire on the Praia do Ancão land that it owns or on the ‘abusive’ deforestation procedure,” the company said in a statement.
According to a letter from the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) to which Lusa had access, in addition to a lawsuit filed against the company in 2020 for the “practice of serious environmental offenses”, a new lawsuit is now underway. of administrative offence ”because the company placed a metal fence on the land without authorization.
According to Lisfina, the fence was replaced “after acts of vandalism that occurred in June 2020, including demolition of the fence, cutting the fence and cutting pine trees by strangers, who were the subject of a complaint with the GNR”.
However, according to the ICNF, the placement of the fence had not yet been authorized when it was installed, having been suggested to Lisfina, “to avoid the situation of wanton private property” that she invoked, the placement of “a living hedge with recourse native vegetation ”, reads in the letter.
According to the document, in order to prevent access to the land, the ICNF admitted the possibility of installing “a temporary protection without a permanent character, as long as the hedge did not have the dimension to fulfill the intended function”.
“However, as it was found that the installation of the fence was prior to the proper authorization, adding to that fact that in disagreement with the authorized person, barbed wire was placed on top of it, a new process of installation is underway administrative offence ”, says the institute.
https://www.algarveprimeiro.com/d/empresa-multada-por-incumprimento-na-ria-formosa-diz-desconhecer-contraordenacoes/37565-1

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