Portugal Situation Report Wednesday 3rd November 2021
Introduction
Good morning – We start with some good news and that is that is the announcement that until the end of October, Portugal had the lowest number of rural fires and the second lowest level in burnt area, since 2011.
The Minister of Internal Administration said yesterday that it was thanks to the initial muscular and effective intervention in the vast majority of cases, of the Fire Department, of the heli-transported teams of the Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR) and of the Sapadores Florestais teams, that in more than 80% of the recorded occurrences, the burned area was contained to less than 1 hectare.
As we have previously said in our reports it is the combined team efforts of the various emergency services that are containing many of these fires at the initial stages. Great work to all the emergency services involved.
Another topic coming under the broad heading of civil protection is the forthcoming A Terra Treme Earthquake awareness exercise, on Friday 5th November. We urge everyone to become involved in this. Does your business have an earthquake emergency plan? If not why not? Do you and your family know what to do in an earthquake? If not why not? If you are a school principal or teacher, is your school participating? If not why not?
Unfortunately there are many casualties in major earthquake because people were unaware of the correct action to take. The simple measure of “Drop, Cover, Hold On”, could save many lives. By caring for those you have responsibility for, please become involved, through the many ways of doing so.
The A Terra Treme website is here: http://www.aterratreme.pt/o-exercicio/ and we have put this altogether in English here: https://www.safecommunitiesportugal.com/find-information/environment-and-weather/earthquake-tsunami/ Please read, get involved and help keep yourself and others safe should a major earthquake take place. To make it even easier we have put together a PowerPoint which you can download here: https://www.safecommunitiesportugal.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/A-Terra-Treme-Earthquake-Awareness-Exercise.-2021-pptx-1.pdf
Well we had a taste of some bad weather recently with 5 days of rain in most areas of the mainland. The emergency services were out and about attending to over 1300 occurrences during this period. There were plenty of warnings beforehand and I hope that everyone took heed of these. However, some clearly did not do so and we saw from photos and reports of the number of cars damaged by fallen trees. The winter season officially starts at the end of this month and we can expect further rain and winds as is normal during this period.
However we are in a period of climate change and extreme weather conditions are becoming more frequent. If you live in an area prone to flooding and exposed to high winds, it is the right time now to start clearing blocked drains and gutters, cleaning trees in poor condition and in particular removing branches that may overhang your property. This will greatly reduce the risk of property damage in case of bad weather.
Related to this Tropical Storm Strom Wanda is heading in the general direction of the Azores, if the current forecasts are direct. This is the first of this season but in the past the Azores, Madeira and even the mainland of Portugal have been affected by these storms. When they progress to hurricane level they cause immense damage, so it is important to monitor their track and be prepared.
You may notice that yesterday our Facebook page reached a milestone of 50,000 followers. We thank those who are following and sharing our work which is undertaken by volunteers.
Given our remit of safety and security, inevitably we have to sometimes deal with, and communicate, difficult and challenging topic, which do not always make happy reading. We are conscious of this and therefore, we try to balance this with positive and good news, which is important during challenging times. Some examples in the last two days were our posts concerning: the “Portuguese tradition to ask for Pão Por Deus”, and “Big wave surfing at Nazaré”, which have so far reached around 26,400 and 33,600 respectively, as well as the “1755 Tsunami Simulation post, with an engagement of nearly 3,000 reach over 17,000 so far”.
We do monitor this figures closely so we can see what sort of topics people are finding most useful and informative.
Out Team at Safe Communities wish you a Safe and Happy day
Headlines
Covid-19: five million dead is “a global shame”, says António Guterres
These are not numbers on a page. They are mothers and fathers. Brothers and sisters,” Guterres said in a statement in which he stressed that while rich countries are already administering a third dose of the vaccine against the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes the disease, “only about 5% of the population of Africa is fully vaccinated”.
“This is a global shame,” Guterres said, adding that the fact that the pandemic has already left five million dead is also a “clear warning” that it is not possible to “lower our guard”.
The head of the United Nations also indicated that there are several factors that could contribute for the coronavirus to continue to spread, including misinformation, the concentration of vaccines and the lack of global solidarity.
“We have to inject vaccines into the arms of 40% of people in all countries by the end of the year, and 70% by mid-2022,” urged Guterres, urging world leaders to support the Organization’s Global Vaccination Strategy.
“The best way to honour these five million people we’ve lost, and to support health workers who struggle with this virus every day, is to make vaccine equity a reality by accelerating our efforts and ensuring maximum vigilance to win against the virus”, the UN secretary general added.
Covid-19 has already caused more than five million deaths worldwide, among more than 246.62 million infections by the new coronavirus recorded since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the latest report by the Agence France-Presse, based on data officers.
Covid-19
COVID-19DGS Situation Report from Tuesday 2nd November 2021
Confirmed Cases: 1.091.592 (+450)
Number of admitted: 372 (+12)
Number of ICU admitted: 59 (-1)
Deaths: 18.171 (+9)
Recovered: 1.041.385 (+345)
Active cases: 32.036 (+98)
Health
Covid-19: Câmara de Lisboa extends free testing plan until the end of the year
Lisbon, Nov 02, 2021 (Lusa) – The free and unlimited testing plan for covid-19 in Lisbon was extended until the end of the year, the City Council announced today, recalling that the program is open to the entire population, whether or not resident in the capital.
“The municipal testing plan, scheduled until the end of October, was extended by the new executive until the end of the year”, reads the website of the Câmara de Lisboa, now chaired by the social democrat Carlos Moedas.
The covid-19 testing program in Lisbon was implemented by the former municipal executive, under the presidency of the socialist Fernando Medina, who failed to be re-elected to the position in the municipal councils on 26 September.
“The Municipality of Lisbon provides a mass testing system, which allows monitoring the gradual de-confinement, preventing the transmission of the virus in the community and reducing contagion”, said the municipality.
Covid-19 tests are free and unlimited, for residents and non-residents, and can be performed at the network of participating pharmacies or at fixed posts in various parts of the city and markets, in partnership with the Ministry of Health, Unilabs, National Association of Pharmacies and Lisbon City Council.
The municipality announced on April 14 that it was going to extend free testing in pharmacies to covid-19 to all residents of the municipality, leaving the program – which started on March 31 – to be limited to parishes with the highest incidence of the disease.
On May 19, the City of Lisbon decided to provide free tests to covid-19 to fairgrounds and merchants in municipal markets, workers from companies covered by the Lisboa Protege Program and to athletes from training levels registered in the council’s clubs and collectives.
Covid-19: Montemor-o-Velho Chamber activates Municipal Emergency Plan
The Municipality of Montemor-o-Velho activated the Municipal Emergency Plan until Wednesday next week, with the possibility of renewal, in order to control the spread of covid-19, the municipality announced yesterday.
According to a statement, a situation was detected “of particular epidemiological vulnerability in municipal services, which has been exponentially worsening.”
Given this situation, the Municipal Emergency Plan was activated from 4:30 pm on Monday.
As long as the emergency plan is activated, the Paços do Concelho building is closed, with the suspension of face-to-face service, which will be carried out exclusively by telephone and digital means.
According to the municipal notice, the municipal buildings of the high-performance centre, the library, the municipal archive, the Balcão Único do Prédio (BUPI) and the municipal pavilion are also closed for the same period.
With regard to payments and compliance with deadlines, they are postponed for as long as this period lasts, so that there is no harm to residents and service users.
According to that municipality in the district of Coimbra, the evolution of the epidemiological situation will be analysed together with the health authority, so that, as soon as possible, the face-to-face reopening of services is made.
The notice for general knowledge is published on the municipality’s website.
Other news
Fenprof suspends teachers strike due for Friday 5th November
Coimbra, 02 Nov 2021 (Lusa) – The National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof) yesterday decided to suspend the Friday teachers’ strike, due to the ‘stalemate’ of the State Budget for 2022, but will join the administration strike public scheduled for November 12th.
The secretary general of Fenprof, Mário Nogueira, said today in Coimbra that as Friday’s strike was “intimately linked to the State Budget and the visit of the minister to parliament” for its discussion in the specialty, with the parliamentary committee, it was decided to suspend that fighting action.
Mário Nogueira stressed that this is a suspension of the strike, but not its annulment, noting that Fenprof will leave this fighting action “in portfolio for a moment in the near future”.
This moment could arise if “a State Budget proposal similar to the one that has now been rejected is presented by the next Government, on the day the future Minister of Education goes to the Parliamentary Committee on Education to hear about it”, he asserted.
Fenprof has a different understanding of the public administration strike scheduled by the Common Front for November 12th.
This “was not a strike associated with the visit of any minister to parliament, it was intended to convey to the Government and the country that public administration workers do not conform with the devaluation they have been subjected to nor with the degradation of public services that it was not started by the current Government, but continued by it”, said Mário Nogueira, at a press conference held this afternoon, after a meeting of the Fenprof secretariat that took place in the morning.
ASAE faces a “structural issue” of lack of means (it has fewer inspectors than when it was created) and a challenge: online commerce
The inspector general of the Authority for Food and Economic Security (ASAE), Pedro Portugal Gaspar, admits that the ASAE is going through “a structural issue”. In an interview with the newspaper “Público”, the inspector general highlights some problems that ASAE is experiencing, such as the “aging of staff, mobility to other organizations and the absence of new hires”.
The number of workers has fluctuated. In 2006, it had 251 inspectors, for a total of 595 workers. In 2021, it has 491 workers, of which 248 (51%) are integrated in the inspection career.
Leading the 2022 State Budget could jeopardize the budget targets set by ASAE for the next year. The budget was set at 20.5 million euros, 11% more compared to this year (18.479 million), of which “2% increase in transfers from the State Budget and 9% increase in the projection of own revenues”.
Pedro Portugal Gaspar also recognizes difficulties in the supervision of online commerce: “Let’s say that it benefits from some situation of greater difficulty in immediate supervision, despite the guarantee space and cooperation being made with other countries”.
Unemployment rate
Portugal registered an unemployment rate of 6.4% in September, according to the estimate put forward this Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE).
The INE also revised downwards the August unemployment rate, which had initially been estimated at 6.4% and which has now corrected to 6.3%, indicates the statement published this Tuesday.
According to the same source, the unemployed population (331.3 thousand) increased by 1.9% in relation to the previous month and decreased by 6% in relation to the three months before and 18.2% in relation to the same month of the previous year.
On the other hand, the employed population (4,817.8 thousand) decreased by 0.3% compared to August and increased by 0.3% compared to June and 3.7% compared to September 2020, according to INE.
“The unemployment rate stood at 6.4%, 0.1 pp (percentage points) more than in the previous month, 0.4 pp less than three months earlier and 1.6 pp less than a year earlier “, observes the institute.
Judicial Police seizes 430,000 doses of cocaine from Brazil at Porto airport
Porto, Nov 02, 2021 (Lusa) – The Judicial Police (PJ) seized enough cocaine for 430,000 individual doses and detained five people during an operation, centred at Porto Airport, to combat drug trafficking from Brazil to Portugal, revealed today police source.
In a statement, the Northern Directorate of the PJ indicates that the action took place on Sunday, following a control of the cargo of a plane coming from São Paulo, “as part of the investigation starting some 6 months ago, into the activities of a criminal group”.
The drug, a total of 43 kilos of cocaine, with a high degree of purity, would be enough to produce more than 430,000 doses, and that quantity could be expanded with the addition of so-called ‘cut products’, the police said.
The detainees are four men, aged between 34 and 44, and a woman, aged 31, all Portuguese and residents of the Greater Porto area.
An investigating judge ordered the preventive arrest of three of them and ordered the remaining two to report periodically to the authorities.
Two of the defendants are employees of companies operating at the said airport. Within the scope of the trafficking scheme, “they had the function of extracting the illicit cargo, proceeding with the collection of the volumes with the narcotic”, based on instructions received from a South American criminal network.
In addition to drugs, four high-end cars and a firearm that was loaded were seized, in an operation in which the PJ had the collaboration of the Customs Services of the Tax and Customs Authority of Francisco Sá Carneiro Airport and of the Airport Security Division of the PSP.
Comment
Brazil does not produce cocaine but it is one of the main exit points for trafficking into Europe.
It was announced yesterday that Vice Admiral Gouveia e Melo was the winner of the National Bioethics Award, a distinction made by the National Bioethics Association, with the support of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto (FMUP). According to the note sent to newsrooms this Tuesday, the “choice was unanimous” and is a reflection of the coordination of the task force of vaccination against covid-19, which the jury considered to be “an example”.
In addition to the early identification of cases, the main variant detected among cases registered in the last month is influenza A, which, according to the ECDC, disproportionately affects the elderly and is associated with lower vaccine efficacy.
Tuesday’s publication warns that countries’ current pledges would reduce carbon by only about 7.5% by 2030, far less than the 45% cut scientists say is needed to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C, the aim of the Cop26 summit that opens in Glasgow this Sunday.
“The Prize, awarded by the National Bioethics Association, with the support of the FMUP, distinguishes the vice-admiral for the ‘personal integrity with which he performed his duties, as well as for the ‘demonstrated organizational and planning qualities’. The award is also intended to be a recognition ‘for the example it has given to Portuguese society, an example of public service and dedication to common causes’”, can be read in the note. “Known for the decisive role he played in a critical phase of the pandemic, Vice Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo was, for the jury of this Award, “a natural and unanimous choice”.
If people wish to purchase medicines over the internet, they should do so through authorized means. In Portugal, only pharmacies and non-prescription drug sales outlets authorized by INFARMED, IP can sell drugs to the public via the internet.
A reminder that although the critical fire period has finished, the fire risk remains high, particularly in the Algarve. The Civil Protection have extended the availability of deployment under Level lll of the operational plan, which was due to expire on 15th October, until the end of this month. This decision is based on weather forecasts showing that the fire risk is higher than usual for this period. So please take care.
On an official visit to Portugal, Hans P. Klüge, himself a physician, recalled that “there are some clinical trials in progress”, but “the evidence is still not robust enough”.
Available data analysed by the Technical Commission on Vaccination against COVID-19 (CTVC), which include the results of the World Health Organization expert group meeting on vaccination, show that there is an acceptable safety profile after taking both vaccines.
The initiative aims to understand and understand the impact of the pandemic on daily routines, well-being, eating habits and behaviours, physical activity, socioeconomic variables and perception of the nutritional status of school-age children (6 to 10 years old) on the European continent.
An important reminder concerning beach safety particularly so in taking a dip in the sea. There have been several accidents this month where people have got into difficulties whilst swimming. Fortunately they were rescued. It is important to follow that flags regarding entry into the sea and at all times even if conditions appear safe, beware of rip currents and action to take if you do get dragged in one of these.
Despite the measures announced, Pedro Costa stated that “the capacity for dialogue” between the unions and the Government has not been exhausted.
Infection prevention and control recommendations must continue to be respected, namely the physical distance between visitor, user and health professionals; respiratory tag; correct use of surgical mask; and frequent hand hygiene. The number of visitors per hospitalized user must also be adjusted to ensure effective compliance with infection prevention and control measures.
Parents are disgusted with the decision they consider to be “overkill” and question how the rest of the year will go as SARS-CoV-2 continues to circulate.
The Government’s proposal states that, of the total consolidated expenditure allocation, personnel expenses have greater weight, which “represent 76.5% of the total consolidated expenditure, with 1,767.9 million euros of allocation, highlighting the structure of the payroll of the security forces and services, distributed between the National Republican Guard (GNR), with 842.3 million euros, and the Public Security Police (PSP), with 787.5 million euros.