Algarve Situation Report Saturday 5th June 2021

 

Covid-19

The Algarve has 276 active cases of Covid.19, informed the District Commission for Civil Protection of Faro based on data from ARS Algarve.

Until yesterday, 22,094 infected were registered, 11 more in the last 24 hours and 21,462 recovered (cumulative).

There are 261 patients recovering at home and 15 hospitalized, 2 in the Intensive Care Units and 1 ventilated. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 356 deaths have been registered in the region.

At the moment 894 people are under active surveillance.

Compared to last week’s bulletin, 43 more active cases and 142 new cases are confirmed. A further 99 people are recovered.

There are 5 more hospitalized (15), maintaining the number of patients in intensive care (2) and ventilated (1). Another 55 people are under active surveillance.

 

Covid-19: Removing Portugal from the “green list” was a British political decision, says Turismo do Algarve

Faro, 04 June (Lusa) – The president of Tourism of the Algarve, João Fernandes, today classified as “political” the decision of the United Kingdom to remove Portugal from the “green list” of travels, imposing a quarantine from Tuesday on those who reaches British territory.

“It is a decision that the British Government took as a matter of internal policy and not as a matter of risk”, said the president of the Algarve Tourism Region (RTA), stressing that the justification given by the UK authorities “does not use Portugal as a reference” for covid-19 infections and even Malta, “which has an incidence of nine cases per 100,000 inhabitants, was left out” of the “green list”.

João Fernandes acknowledged that the British decision “has a clear impact on the region”, as the United Kingdom is the “main source market” of tourists to the Algarve, and regretted the “embarrassment” that the measure causes, “from the outset for those who already they are here and are scheduled to return after Tuesday, which is the day from which this measure takes effect”.

“We are already witnessing a concentration of repatriation flights and a cancellation of flights for the subsequent period and of hotel reservations as well. We hope that this measure is reviewed as soon as possible, because it is completely unfair”, he considered.

João Fernandes also said that the Algarve had “100,000 movements of passengers of British origin during the last two weeks” and that, according to data provided by the Regional Health Administration among British passengers, “there was only a record – and all of them are tested – six cases”.

“Six cases per 100,000 inhabitants is a much lower number than that registered in the United Kingdom itself, not least because the British, before traveling to Portugal, have to take a PCR [test]”, he added.

Now, he said, the region must “look forward and continue to bet on other markets that are in good demand in the Algarve, such as the German, French, Irish Spanish, Dutch markets”, which are “recognizing Portugal as a safe destination and the best beach destination in the world, according to the latest recognition from the World Travel Awards”.

The representative considers that Portugal can return to the “green list” in the next re-evaluation of the British Government, within about three weeks.

“Even because, being clearly a political decision, because the British Government bet that by June 21st it would conclude its de-confinement process, it makes sense that this review is favourable to an opening to several countries, including Portugal”, he argued.

João Fernandes also left a warning to British tourists who “are now returning in a hurry”, noting that they can use the approximately 130 covid-19 testing sites identified on the website www.visitalgarve.pt, before traveling to the airport, to facilitate controls and their departure from the country.

Municipality of VRSA inaugurated Local Support Centre for Integration of Migrants

The municipality of Vila Real de Santo António inaugurated, last Tuesday, the Local Support Centre for the Integration of Migrants (CLAIM), operating in the main building of the City Council, from Monday to Friday, from 9:30 am to 3:00 pm, next to the customer service area.

The new office’s mission is to support the entire process of welcoming and integrating migrants, articulating its activity with various local structures and promoting inter- culturality at the local level, as explained by the municipality in a statement.

The inauguration ceremony was attended by the Secretary of State for Integration and Migration, Cláudia Pereira, the Mayor of VRSA, Luís Romão, and the Board Member of the High Commission for Migration, José Reis.

CLAIM is a service provided by the Municipality’s Division of Social Development and Human Resources that results from a protocol signed with the High Commission for Migration, IP. It will provide support and general information in areas such as regularization, nationality, family reunification, housing, voluntary return, work, health, education, among other issues.

 

Algarve Situation Report Wednesday 2^nd June 2021

 

COVID-19: Unilabs and HPA Saúde Group inaugurate laboratory in Faro.

Unilabs Portugal and the HPA Saúde Group, with the collaboration of the Faro City Council, inaugurated, on Monday, May 31, a new Molecular Biology Laboratory.

The new structure, integrated in the «Summer Safe Algarve» operation, will allow to expand the response capacity in quantity and response time to Covid-19 tests, especially at the level of the standard PCR tests.

The Molecular Biology Laboratory will have the capacity to carry out more than 15,000 tests per day and represents an investment of 1.5 million euros, with the creation of 100 jobs in the laboratory and in the testing network to be set up on the ground, throughout the Algarve region.

With the increase in tourism expected for the summer months in the Algarve, and the mandatory testing to enter Portugal and return to the countries of origin, Unilabs, in partnership with the HPA Saúde Group, will thus strengthen the capacity testing facilities in the region, allowing for a quicker response, without the need to transport samples outside the district.

The screening centre is located at Rua Engenheiro Nuno Abecassis, in Faro, parallel to the Decathlon chain store in Faro.

Hand in hand with the installation of this centre, a network of specific locations and routes programmed in hotel units will be created, in order to expand the ease and convenience in accessing these health services.

 

Covid-19: Rolling Loud Portugal Festival that would take place in Portimão is postponed again to 2022.

The North American festival Rolling Loud, which was due to open in July in Europe with an event in Portimão, has been postponed to 2022 because of the pandemic situation, the organization announced today.

“While we see that the world is opening up again and we are encouraged by many positive indicators about European travel, stays and events, we feel that the rescheduling of the festival is the best in the name of the safety of all our fans traveling to Portugal, to the festival “, reads a statement shared on social networks.

The first edition of Rolling Loud Portugal should have already taken place in Portimão in the summer of 2020, next to Praia da Rocha, but it was postponed to July this year, but it is now rescheduled, due to the pandemic, for the days from 06 to 08 July 2022.

The festival, made mainly of hip hop, had on the poster names like Travis Scott, A $ AP Rocky, Future, Wiz Khalifa, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Chief Keef, City Girls, Dababy, Gucci Mane, Gunna and Meek Mill.

The organization does not give names for 2022, saying only that it is working “in the biggest hip hop line-up that Europe has ever seen”.

According to the organization, the tickets already purchased are valid for 2022, but a refund will also be possible.

Calling itself the largest hip-hop festival in the world, Rolling Loud only admits those over 18 years of age.

 

One dead and one injured in a vehicle crash into a ravine in Silves.

The falling of an off-road vehicle into a ravine in the area of ​​São Bom Homem, in the municipality of Silves, today caused a death and a person slightly injured a source from Civil Protection told Lusa.

According to the District Relief Operations Centre (CDOS) in Faro, the accident that occurred in the middle of the afternoon on Monday resulted in the death of a 62-year-old man and injuries to a 57-year-old woman, both of German nationality.

“The causes of the accident are being investigated” said the source.

In the rescue operations of the victims, 25 members of the firefighters from Silves, from the National Institute for Medical Emergency (INEM) and from the National Republican Guard, from the Municipal Civil Protection of Silves, were involved, supported by an INEM helicopter.

Algarve Situation Report Saturday 29th May 2021

 

The Algarve has 233 active cases in Covid.19, informed the District Civil Protection Commission of Faro based on data from ARS Algarve.

Up to yesterday, 21,952 were infected, 33 more in the last 24 hours and 21,363 recovered (cumulative).

There are 223 patients recovering at home and 10 hospitalized, 2 in the Intensive Care Units and 1 ventilated. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 356 deaths have been recorded in the region since the start of the pandemic.

839 people are currently under active surveillance.

Compared to last week’s bulletin, 63 fewer active cases and 125 new cases are confirmed. Another 188 people are recovered.

There are 3 more hospitalized (10), maintaining the number of patients in intensive care (2) and ventilated (1). Under active surveillance there are fewer 172 people.

British turnover in the Algarve soared 231% last weekend

Thanks to the reopening of the air corridor between the United Kingdom and Portugal, British turnover at national level increased by 80% between the second and third weeks of May.

In the Algarve, the increase in British billing was substantial, but pre-pandemic values ​​have not yet been reached, according to a statement from Reduniq, which says it is the largest national network for accepting payments by national and foreign cards.

According to the same source, with the resumption of British flights to Portugal on 17 May, last week (17 to 23 May) there was an increase of 80% in billing from British payment cards across the country, comparatively to the previous week.

This growth was reflected, above all, in the Algarve, where the total turnover of the district’s businesses rose 13% in the week of the reopening of the borders compared to the previous week. Of these results, 53% are due to the increase in British visitors.

In relation to the consumption of the English in the district of Faro, spending skyrocketed by more than 111% from the week of May 10 to 16 for the week of May 17 to 23, with emphasis on the weekend of May 22 and 23, period in which British turnover in the Algarve region increased by 231% over the previous weekend.

Even so, according to data collected by Reduniq, this growth is still not enough to reach pre-pandemic billing levels, since the total British billing maintains a drop of around 55%, compared to the same period in 2019. .

The total turnover for tourist activities in the region (which includes hotels, rent-a-car, travel agencies and airlines) increased by 82% in the last week compared to the previous week.

In a more detailed analysis by the hotel sector, there was an increase of 57%, in the week of May 17th to 23rd, compared to the previous week. Here, too, values ​​remain below 46% in the same period of 2019. The restoration of the region increased 24% from May 10 to 16 to May 17 to 23, still maintaining a drop of 14% compared to the same period in 2019.

 

INEM’s new building is an investment by the municipality of Loulé but will serve the entire region. Urgent Patients Orientation Centre (CODU) returns to the Algarve.

In an investment of close to 1.8 million euros, the construction of the new INEM facilities started today in the city of Loulé with good news for the Algarve: after a few years of absence, the region will once again have a delegation from the Centro de Guidance for Urgent Patients (CODU) of the Algarve, a key component in the emergency medical and relief services, which will be integrated in this building.

Between 2000 and 2012, this service was active but, since then, it has functioned as an extension of CODU Lisboa (which covers the entire area between Fátima and the south of the country).

«We were left with the valence of the activation and, for some time to this part, there has been a progressive resumption of valences that we hope that, with the publication of the statutes and the formal creation of the regional delegation, there will be a CODU in the Algarve in full », Said Carlos Raposo, regional responsible for the institution, yesterday, Thursday, May 27th.

 

Algarve Situation report Wednesday 26^th May 2021

 

Covid-19: President of AHETA says tourism demand is far from satisfactory.

British tourist bookings for hotels in the Algarve have increased “above expectations”, but the numbers are far from “satisfactory” for the region, the President of the sector’s largest regional association told Lusa today.

“There is a very positive demand from the British market in the Algarve, even above expectations, but we cannot go overboard due to the fact that there is one or another hotel with high occupancy levels,” the president of the Association of Hotels and Enterprises told Lusa. Algarve Tourist Attractions (AHETA).

According to the director, “the scale of the climb is not yet known and requires careful analysis”, as there are “many units and developments still closed in the Algarve and only reopening in June”, so it will only be possible to know at the end of this month ” the real impact of demand on the units that are working.”

According to Elidérico Viegas, tourist demand “grew gradually and progressively, as soon as it was known that Portugal would be included in the ‘green list’ of safe destinations that exempts citizens from quarantining on their return to the United Kingdom, which happened from 17 May.

However, for the leader of AHETA, the numbers “very satisfactory that we have been talking about in the last few days correspond to one or the other unit and not to the average of the Algarve”, creating even “some disappointment in the entrepreneurs who are not seen in these results”.

There is a whole machine that has been idle for a year and a half and needs to be retrofitted, because it is not enough to put it to work at cruising speed. It is a gradual process and it will take some time for it to work in full”, recalled the person in charge.

The full functioning of the hotel units is also, according to the leader, “dependent on the stability of the markets that emit tourists, mainly the British and the national market, which may be affected by a possible setback caused by the pandemic” of Covid-19.

Tavira beaches open bathing season with “gold” quality.

The four beaches in the municipality of Tavira (Barril, Cabanas, Ilha de Tavira and Terra Estreita) were distinguished, once again, with the classification of “beaches with gold quality” by Quercus – National Association for Nature Conservation.

Tavira was thus recognized, along with 391 beaches, of which 329 are coastal, 51 inland and 11 transition. The purpose of this award is to highlight the beaches that, for five consecutive years (2016-2020), have bathing water of excellent quality.

The assessment, carried out by Quercus, results from the analysis carried out in accordance with the Bathing Water Directive.

As in the past year, the Câmara de Tavira sends the message that Quercus reinforces the need for bathers to comply with the sanitary rules defined by the Directorate-General for Health, when attending bathing areas. In this context, it is requested that crowds of people are avoided when accessing the beaches and the sand. It also appeals to the civic fulfilment of those who frequent the beaches, namely, “with regard to the correct disposal of disposable masks, which must be placed in trash bins and never abandoned in the natural environment”, he concludes.

Rural Fire at the entrance to Faro.

A fire has already been overcome in an area “with debris and pasture”, at the entrance to the city of Faro, which broke out this Sunday, around 6 pm.

Although it was quickly overwhelmed and did not cause “any damage to structures or victims”, according to the Faro District Relief Operations Command (CDOS) confirmed, the column of black smoke was visible from a long distance.

The quick response was made by the Sapadores de Faro Firefighters, the Faro Volunteers – Cruz Lusa and the Olhão Firefighters, who, with the help of an aerial means, quickly controlled the flames.

In addition to the helicopter, 29 operational fire supporters, supported by 9 vehicles, were involved in fighting the fire.