Portugal Situation Report Wednesday 2^nd February 2022

Introduction

Good morning – Since the beginning of the year there have been over 700 rural fires of which more than 450 occurred from 28^th to 30^th January. Over 85% of these recent fires were in the far north. On Friday two fires broke out in hard-to-reach mountain areas and one broke out in a forested area near a village. There were no populations or homes in danger.

The largest of these fires occurred in the Montesinho mountain range, in the district of Bragança, where firefighters, land and air resources were sent at 0800 hrs on Friday, and it was only subdued in the afternoon of the following day. This fire broke out in the Lama Grande area and was the most worrying due to the extent and difficulty in controlling it confirmed the ANEPC. The estimate points to the possible destruction of 2000 hectares in Portugal and Spain, where the fire spread.

Rain has been lacking and the situation of drought in most of the country is reflected in very low levels of relative humidity which, associated with the east wind and the absence of what is called “the nocturnal recovery” of humidity when the sun goes down, leads to an increased  fire hazard  when there is a fire. In fact at the time of the fires on Saturday the Relative humidity levels were as low as 11% in the afternoon in this general area.

For this reason, ANEPC decided on Saturday to prohibit the burning of debris and extensive burns. This was lifted at midnight last night.

Fires in the winter is not very common, but it’s not unheard of either: Having fires in the winter months has to do with weather and climate conditions and there have been years when this has happened.

The situation does not only relate just to an increased fire risk but also water supply. Yesterday Government announced that use of water for electricity production has been suspended at the Alto Lindoso, Touvedo, Vilar-Tabuaço and Cabril/Castelo de Bode dams. At the Bravura dam, in the Algarve, it is no longer possible to use the water for agricultural purposes given the magnitude of the drought.

Turning to Covid-19, a reminder that the Online Vaccination Scheduling Portal is now available to request the scheduling of the first dose of the vaccine against Covid-19, for children aged 5 to 11, so that they can be vaccinated on February 5th and 6th. This can be at the most convenient location, according to the availability and installed capacity of the existing vaccination posts”, according to SPMS in a statement.

The SPMS also added that “children who are eligible for the administration of the second dose, that is, who were vaccinated on December 18 and 19, will receive an SMS with confirmation of the respective schedule”.

Lastly a reminder concerning internet security. This has been in the news over the last two weeks mainly due to the hacking of Expresso and SIC, more recently the alleged attack on the Portuguese Government website and yesterday TAP’s Twitter account. In the case of Expresso and SIC there sites were down for a number of days before temporary sites were established. In the case of the Parliament site this was initially down for only a few minutes and then again for a number of hours for maintenance work on the site to be undertaken.

So I ask this question: If you are operating a business do you have a backup in case your site is either hacked into or goes down for whatever reason? This is worth thinking about, what are the financial implications if this happened to you, and do you have the information available to recreate your site should it not be backed up? Something to check with your hosting company.

With that have a good day.

Headlines

Covid-19: WHO warns it is premature for any country to “declare victory” over coronavirus

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned yesterday that it was premature for any country to “declare victory” over the pandemic, claiming that, since the emergence of the Omicron variant, more than 90 million infections with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus have already been recorded.

“It is premature for any country to surrender or declare victory” over the covid-19 pandemic, the WHO director-general said at a press conference, just days after two years had passed since the declaration of a public emergency of international concern. .

According to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, since the Omicron variant was identified, just 10 weeks ago, almost 90 million cases of infection have been recorded by the organization, “more than was reported in the entire year 2020”.

“We are witnessing a worrying increase in deaths in many regions of the world”, warned Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who expressed his concern about the “narrative that is taking hold in some countries” that, because of vaccines and the high transmissibility and reduced severity of Omicron, preventing transmission is “no longer possible or necessary” to prevent transmission of the virus.

“Nothing could be further from the truth”, stressed the director-general of the WHO, saying that the organization is not calling for countries to return to confinement, but to “protect their populations using all the tools at their disposal” to combat the disease.

COVID-19 DGS Report Tuesday 1^st February

Confirmed: 2,690.690 (+50,888 / +1.93%)

Admitted to hospital: 2,437 (-32 / -1.30%)

Admitted to ICU: 155 (-5 / -3.13%)

Deaths: 19,968 (+63 / +0.32%)

Recovered: 2.078.357 (+44610 / +2.19%)

Active cases: 592,365 (+6215 / +1.04%)

TRENDS

Number of new cases over 50,000 and almost double that of yesterday, but below the highs of last week.

After two days of large increase in hospitalisations a moderate decrease.

A decrease in ICU maintaining an overall stable trend over the last 4 weeks

Marked increase in the number of deaths 14 more than yesterday and 34 more than the day before

A moderate increase in active cases after yesterday’s reduction 

Health

António Costa tests positive for covid on the eve of the meeting with Marcelo

The Prime Minister tested positive for covid-19 in an antigen test. In a statement, António Costa’s office states that the prime minister is doing well and is asymptomatic. According to information, the prime minister has already informed Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

The information was meanwhile confirmed by the Prime Minister’s office. In a statement, the cabinet states that “the prime minister carried out a test for covid-19 and had a positive result” in an antigen test. According to the information provided, António Costa is asymptomatic and will serve a seven-day isolation period.

António Costa was to head the Socialist Party (PS) delegation that would be received next Wednesday by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in the round of meetings with the parties after the legislative elections.

Covid-19: Death of a 6-year-old in Santa Maria was not due to the vaccine

According to the statement, “the complementary laboratory tests were completed” and sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, “on the present date, the autopsy report carried out on January 18 on the 6-year-old child who was admitted to Hospital de Santa Maria”

The National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences concluded that the death of a 6-year-old child at Hospital de Santa Maria was not due to the vaccine against covid-19, according to the results of the autopsy carried out.

“With the knowledge and consent of the Magistrate of the Public Prosecutor’s Office who is in charge of the process, it is reported that the death of the child was not due to vaccination against covid-19. This information has already been transmitted to the child’s family ”, reads a statement from the National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences (INMLCF), released this Tuesday.

According to the statement, “the complementary laboratory tests were completed” and sent to the Public Prosecutor’s Office, “on the present date, the autopsy report carried out on January 18 on the 6-year-old child who was admitted to the Hospital de Santa Maria”.

The INMLCF also states in the statement that, out of respect for the family and for intimacy and private life, “it does not disclose other information of a clinical nature”.

Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Norte (CHULN) announced on January 17 that a six-year-old boy who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 had died the day before at Hospital Santa Maria and that the causes of death were being investigated.

Covid-19: BA.2 strain of Omicron variant detected in 57 countries

The BA.2 strain of the Omicron variant, which some studies have shown to be more contagious than the original version, has been detected in 57 countries, the World Health Organization (WHO) revealed this Tuesday.

Omicron, which spreads and mutates rapidly, has become the world’s dominant variant since it was first detected in southern Africa ten weeks ago.

In its weekly epidemiological bulletin, the WHO explained that this variant represents more than 93% of all samples of covid-19 collected in January and has as sub-variants BA.1, BA.1.1 , BA.2 and BA.3.

BA.1 and BA.1.1 – the first versions identified – still constitute more than 96% of the Omicron variant cases recorded in the global GISAID database.

But there is a sharp increase in the number of cases involving the BA.2 lineage, which has several mutations different from the original version, particularly in the binding of the `spike’ protein to human cells.

“The sequences designated BA.2 have been submitted to GISAID by 57 countries to date,” the WHO noted, adding that in some countries this sub-variant now represents more than half of the Omicron samples collected.

The WHO added that little is known about the differences between the sub-variants and called for studies to be carried out on the characteristics of the virus, including its transmissibility, ability to evade immune protections and virulence. 

Covid-19: Immune response is stronger in those who have recovered after a dose of vaccine

A study by the Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra (CHUC) confirmed that the immune response is stronger in people who have recovered from covid-19, after a dose of vaccine, than after taking two doses by those who have never been infected.

This is one of the results of a study that the Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra (CHUC) has been conducting on the cellular immune response (mediated by T lymphocytes) and mediated by antibodies to the vaccine against covid-19, over time. .

Under analysis were 100 of its employees, 50 of which have never been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and the remaining 50 are people who have recovered from the disease.

According to Artur Paiva, researcher at the CHUC Clinical Pathology Service, “it was confirmed that the immune response is much stronger in individuals recovered from infection after a dose of vaccine, than in naive individuals (who have never been infected by SARS). -CoV-2) after taking two doses”.

“The results obtained in this study, which was accepted for publication in the international scientific journal Clinical and Experimental Medicine, revealed that, six months after infection with SARS-CoV-2, 48 of the 50 participants recovered from the infection maintained protection against the virus, or by the presence of IgG antibodies, or by specific T lymphocytes”, he revealed.

However, “eight of the 50 participants did not have SARS-CoV-2 specific T lymphocytes.”

“This data is relevant, because it has been shown that, in other coronaviruses, it is T lymphocytes that ensure long-term immunity, although it is still unknown whether this circumstance is also valid for SARS-CoV-2”, he added.

Other news

More fires and more area burned in January than in same month 2021

The month of January had more than 500 fires than the same month last year and more than 1,600 hectares of burned area, according to provisional data from the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF).

This January, rural fires consumed 3,312 hectares, 1,613 hectares more than in the same period last year, with 717 occurrences being recorded, and 504 more than in 2021.

Provisional data from the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests, covering the month of January (from the 1st to 08:00 on Monday) indicate that 77% of the burned area concerns bush, 22% forest stands and 0% in agriculture.

In January 2021, the ICNF registered 213 rural fires, which resulted in 1,699 hectares of burned area, destroying an area of 1,640 hectares of bush, 55 of forest stands and four of agricultural areas. .

On Saturday, the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) banned burning and burning from 00:00 on Sunday and until 23.59 hrs 1St February due to the danger of fire.

ANEPC justifies the decision with the forecast, by the ICNF, of “increased wind intensity that, in combination with the continuation of hot and dry weather, with temperatures above average for this time of year , combined with the number of communications to carry out burning of piles of debris and extensive burns, can give rise to rural fires”.

On Friday, ANEPC registered 132 occurrences related to rural fires in mainland Portugal.

TAP Twitter account was targeted by hackers

TAP confirmed that it had been targeted by hackers. Twitter account has been suspended for prevention

TAP’s Twitter account was the target of unauthorized access by hackers this Tuesday. An information already officially advanced. “TAP confirms that its official Twitter account was the target of a computer attack. The Company has already taken all the necessary steps to protect your account, which is currently suspended.”

The airline’s profile image was modified, with a photograph of a man with a beard and moustache surrounded by white rays and a name: Micheal Sayloor. The hackers also added several tweets with the word “awesome”.

TAP’s communication office does not provide further details, and it is not yet certain whether the cybercrime unit of the Judiciary Police will be investigating the case.

This week, the Parliament website was also the target of a computer attack. Expresso knows that the Judiciary is still trying to understand the scale of the invasion and whether or not there was exfiltration of computer data. The site is currently down so computer experts can run all the tools to investigate the matter.

Fuel consumption increased 19.4% in December

In terms of average selling prices to the public, ERSE notes that Braga, Santarém and Coimbra had the cheapest diesel and gasoline, and Bragança, Beja, Faro and Lisbon the most expensive.

Consumption of oil-derived fuels increased by 102.6 kilotons (kton) in December, year-on-year, which represents an increase of 19.4%, according to data from the Energy Services Regulatory Authority (ERSE), released this Tuesday. .

According to the Fuel and LPG Market Bulletin, for December 2021, “consumption [of oil-derived fuels] in December 2021 was 19.4% higher (102.6 kton) than the same period in 2020”

The most significant increase was seen in the consumption of aircraft fuel (jet fuel), with a year-on-year rise of 77.1%, followed by gasoline (+20.2%) and diesel (+13.8%).

Only the consumption of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) decreased, by 1.8% in December, compared to the same month of 2020.

Compared to the same period in 2019, before the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, consumption in December 2021 was 42.7 kton lower, with a decrease in jet (-23.4%), in diesel ( -3.4%) and gasoline (-2.5%) and only an increase in the case of LPG (+3.9%).

Compared to November 2021, global consumption of oil-derived fuels increased by 12.2 kton, which represents an increase of 2%.

In the case of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), the increase was 23%, for gasoline, 10.4% and for diesel, the growth was 2.3%, compared to the previous month.

Only the consumption of fuel for aircraft (‘jet fuel’) decreased by 13.8% in December, compared to November.

 

 

Portugal Situation Report Wednesday 26^th January 2022

Introduction

Good morning – the legislative elections are certain occupying most of the news at present with around over half of all news articles published by Lusa on 24^th/25^th January, being devoted to this one topic.

Although this puts Covid-19 into second place, it is not good news as far as this subject is concerned. Last Friday’s bulletin from the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) showed that 303 municipalities are at extreme risk of infection, that is, with more than 960 cases of covid-19 per 100 thousand inhabitants in 14 days.

The only municipalities that escape this level of contagion are: Calheta (Azores), Mourão (Évora), Velas (Azores), Corvo (Azores) and Santa Cruz da Graciosa (Azores). Which means that only one municipality in mainland Portugal is not at the extreme level. With over half a million active cases at present this means that approximately 5% of the population or 1 in 20 people have Covid-19. This is being reflected in work absenteeism in different sectors.

Whereas the severity of the Omicron variant is lower compared to the Delta variant, the very high number of new cases (some 336,854 in the week 16^th – 23^rd January)  is now being reflected by an increasing number of hospitalisations, putting some strain on the hospital services. As a result of this some hospitals have had to temporarily suspend hospital visits to patients.

Portugal has therefore exceeded the critical level in the pandemic assessment indicator of the Instituto Superior Técnico and the Ordem dos Médicos, which indicates that the health response to people with other diseases is beginning to be compromised.

According to this risk assessment, on Sunday the country was at 102.14 points, just above the 100 points defined as the critical level in this indicator. This comprises five parameters: new cases, deaths, hospitalized in wards and intensive care, transmissibility index (Rt) and incidence of SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus infections. When this assessment exceeds 100 points, the “National Health Service has to allocate more resources and starts having to put patients who do not have covid-19 in the background.

This is the second time that Portugal has exceeded the critical level in this assessment since the beginning of the pandemic, with the first taking place between the end of October 2020 and February 2021, when there was the greatest pressure on health services.  The only reassuring news from this is that the indicator will probably not reach 120, the value predicted in this system for the level of disaster in the health response.

In other words, a more favourable situation than that recorded on January 21, 2021, when the pandemic assessment indicator reached 167.48, the highest since the beginning of the pandemic. Let us hope we are close to the peak of this phase of the pandemic.

Still on Covid-19, since yesterday afternoon the self-scheduling for those age 25 and over for the booster vaccination is available through the DGS portal. The Self-scheduling for those age 18 and over, for those previously given the Janssen /J&J vaccine for the booster vaccination is also available through the DGS portal. There is likely to be a large demand in these age groups so we suggest people to be patient if the system is overloaded.

A reminder that the last escudo banknotes, referring to the Discoveries series, can be exchanged until February 28, 2022. According to the Bank of Portugal, at the end of October, there were still 11.4 million escudo banknotes of this series in the public’s possession, corresponding to 95 million euros. These dominations are 500, 1000, 2000, 5000 and 10,000 escudos

These banknotes can be exchanged in person, at the Banco de Portugal treasuries in Braga, Coimbra, Évora, Faro, Funchal, Lisbon, Ponta Delgada, Porto and Viseu. Or by sending registered mail, through the special declared value service, to the Central Unit for Cash Operations in the Issuance and Treasury Department of the Bank of Portugal, at Apartado 2001, 1101-801 Lisbon.

Lastly the Instituto do Sangue da Transplantação (IPST) yesterday appealed for the contribution of all potential blood donors, at a “particularly demanding time” due to the covid-19 pandemic and in the face of “a great difficulty in maintaining stable blood and blood component supply reserves”.  The current situation has “caused a large reduction in the number of donors and the postponement of previously scheduled collection sessions”.

If you can and would like to donate the IPST provides information on donations on its website www.ipst.pt Call or email first to enquire their times of operation and conditions for blood donation. Information also on website

Have a Safe day.

Headlines

Covid-19: EU wants people with vaccination or recovery certificates not to be subject to testing or quarantine

European Union (EU) member states agreed yesterday that people with a valid Covid-19 Certificate, such as vaccinated or recovered, should not be subject to “additional restrictions on free movement”, such as testing or quarantine, to facilitate travel.

“The Council yesterday adopted a recommendation of a coordinated approach to facilitate safe free movement during the pandemic” and, according to the new rules, “the measures related to covid-19 must be applied taking into account the status of the person and not the situation at a regional level, with the exception of areas where the virus circulates at very high levels”, informs the structure in which the Member States are represented in a statement.

In practice, “this means that a traveller’s vaccination, testing or Covid-19 recovery status, as evidenced by a valid EU Covid-19 Certificate, must be the fundamental determinant”, adds the EU Council, stressing that this new “person-based approach will substantially simplify applicable rules and provide additional clarity and predictability to travellers”.

It is therefore envisaged that anyone who has a valid EU Covid-19 Certificate, such as vaccinated, recovered or tested, “should not be subject to additional restrictions on free movement”, that is, re-testing or quarantines.

“This recommendation responds to the significant increase in vaccine adoption and the rapid implementation of the EU Covid-19 Certificate”, says the EU Council, currently chaired by France.

The new recommendation, agreed by the General Affairs Council, replaces the existing rules by taking effect on February 1, when a new acceptance period of 270 days for vaccination certificates also begins to operate.

WHO admits pandemic could end soon in Europe but urges caution

The director of WHO Europe, Hans Kluge, said on Sunday that the Omicron variant, which can infect 60% of Europeans by March, started a new phase of the covid-19 pandemic in Europe that could bring it to an end.

“It is plausible that the region is reaching the end of the pandemic”, said the main official of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Europe, still urging caution, due to the unpredictability of the virus.

“When the wave of the Omicron subsides, there will be, for a few weeks or months, general immunity. Either because of the vaccine or because people will become immune due to infections, in addition to a break because of seasonality,” added Kluge, while acknowledging that the endemic stage has not yet been reached.

“Endemic means (…) that we can predict what will happen. This virus has surprised us more than once. We must therefore be very careful”, insisted the WHO official in Europe.

In the WHO Europe region – which includes 53 countries, some of them located in Central Asia – the omicron was responsible for 15% of new cases of covid-19 on 18^th January, more than half of the previous week, according to data from the WHO.

In the European Union and the European Economic Area (EEA), this variant emerged at the end of November, proving to be more contagious than Delta, and is now dominant, according to data from the European health agency.

Covid-19 Situation report Tuesday 25^th January

Confirmed: 2.312.240 (+57657 / +2.56%)

Admitted: 2,320 (-28 / -1.19%)

Admitted to ICU: 158 (-14 / -8.14%)

Deaths: 19,661 (+48 / +0.24%)

Recovered: 1.780.008 (+54666 / +3.17%)

Active cases: 512,571 (+2493 / +0.48%)

TRENDS

Second highest number of new cases since start of pandemic and above last week’s daily average

Deaths higher than yesterday and again over 40. Above last week’s daily average

A decrease in hospitalisations as well as in ICU compared with the very large increases reported yesterday

Much smaller increase in active cases resulting from a record recoveries for one day.

Health

Covid-19: Inspection opened 41 investigation processes for vaccine irregularities

Lisbon, January 25, 2022 (Lusa) – Last year, the General Inspectorate for Health Activities (IGAS) launched 41 investigation processes and six inspection processes, following the investigation carried out on 272 entities within the scope of the vaccination plan against Covid-19, the organization announced.

At the beginning of the vaccination process in Portugal, cases of improper vaccination arose, which led IGAS to institute, on January 28, 2021, an inspection process for the implementation of the first phase of this plan to verify compliance with the rules and guidelines applicable to the administration of the vaccine against Covid-19.

At the time, IGAS said that the inspection would cover, at this stage, the five regional health administrations, hospitals, hospital centers and local health units of the National Health Service, as well as some entities that make up the central services of the National Health Service. Ministry of Health.

The inspection was based on three aspects: criteria for selecting people to be vaccinated within the priority groups, procedures for managing excess doses and measures to prevent waste.

The inspection results have now been published in the IGAS ‘newsletter’ and indicate that, in total, 272 entities and health units from the public, private and social sectors were investigated, and 10 weekly (interim) reports and a global report were prepared.

Following this inspection, eight clarification processes, 41 investigation processes and six inspection processes were initiated.

Still on this topic, the General Inspection of Health Activities established eight inspection processes to verify the conditions of the cold chain of as many vaccination centers against Covid-19.

In these eight processes, 53 recommendations were issued, says the organization.

Computer failure makes it difficult to sell medicines in pharmacies

The electronic prescription service, which allows pharmacies to access prescriptions in a dematerialized form, was down for a few hours this Monday.

The Shared Services of the Ministry of Health (SPMS) confirmed to the JN that there was “intermittent functioning of an information system that is used by other systems, namely the one to support the dispensation of prescriptions” during the afternoon.

The situation has already been regularized and these “difficulties are completely overcome”, confirmed an official SPMS source. Despite the computer failure, it was possible, until 7.30 pm, to issue more than half a million packages of medicines.

“System restart required” due to an update, process that took a few minutes and brought the system down. At the moment, the computer system is “functioning perfectly”, said an official SPMS source.

The failure was absolutely exceptional, he added, but as it interferes with a system “with greater demand”, it ends up being more felt by users and pharmacies.

Other news

Portuguese Armed Forces accounted for a total of 27,741 troops in 2021

In 2021, the Portuguese Armed Forces accounted for a total of 27,741 effectives, excluding military personnel in the reserve situation out of service effectiveness. This number represents an increase of 1,007 employees compared to 2020, whose consolidated data recorded a total of 26,734 employees in that year, reinforcing the increase already seen in 2019 (26,569 employees). Considering this universe, the available numbers reveal a sustained growth in the last three years.

Despite the pandemic situation, which affected the normal dissemination and holding of competitions, the balance of 2021 shows that, as was the case in 2020, the global values ​​of applications in RV/RC were above 10 thousand (10,492), which it had not occurred since 2016. For the permanent staff, in 2021, there were 3,540 applications, a number that rose slightly compared to 2020, and a year in which there had already been an increase of more than 25% compared to 2019.

The high number of applications reflects, in particular, the results of the efforts of the branches of the Armed Forces and the services of the Ministry of National Defence, in terms of improving their communication and dissemination processes, which are more intense and based on digital instruments, with the objective of to bring National Defence closer to young people.

Housing

190 thousand houses were sold in Portugal in 2021. Foreigners bought 11%

After being one of the most resilient sectors in the first year of the pandemic, the real estate market continued to shine in 2021. According to the consultancy JLL, last year 190,000 homes were traded, a growth of almost 20% compared to 2020. In what was the “best year ever” for the sector, a volume of transactions in the region of 30 billion euros was achieved.

“Housing was the star sector of real estate in 2021, surpassing all previous levels of activity”, says JLL this Tuesday, on the day it released the annual market report “Market 360º”. Last year, the consultant estimates that 190,000 homes were sold, 18% more than in 2020 and 12% more than in 2019 (in what had been a record year for the national residential market).

Of the 190,000 homes sold, 89% were sold to domestic buyers and around 11% to foreign buyers. “The strong market fundamentals are expected to continue in 2022, with a new year of high activity expected”, says the consultant, noting that changes to the golden visa regime should not have negative consequences for the market, since Portugal is already a recognized residential destination abroad”.

Despite this good performance, the problem of shortage of supply persists. Joana Fonseca, responsible for the Research area at JLL, notes that the housing stock “has increased by only 1.9% in the last decade, which corresponds to around 108,500 dwellings, that is, less than what was sold this year”.

Portugal Situation Report Wednesday 19^th January 2022

Introduction

Good morning – I start today, not with Covid-19, but with the devastation caused to the tiny islands of Tonga resulting from the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcanic eruption on 15^th January 2022. Our sympathy goes to all those affected who have suffered a great deal, transforming some parts of the idyllic islands from tranquillity, to areas covered by ash, mud and damaged buildings and livelihoods. Let us hope they can recover from this soon, assisted by aid that is on its way. A tragedy on a monumental scale.

Turning to Covid matters, our lead story is the media briefing yesterday by WHO Director – General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. We have included this as our headline article as it puts the spread of Omicron in a global context and how governments should move forward from where we are at present.

He highlighted, “In some countries, cases seem to have peaked, which gives hope that the worst of this latest wave is done with, but no country is out of the woods yet. I remain particularly concerned about many countries that have low vaccination rates, as people are many times more at risk of severe illness and death if they’re unvaccinated.”

I used to say in the context of crime prevention, that security is only as good as the weakest link, and this is certainly true when it comes to Covid-19.

Portugal according to some forecasts is expected to reach the peak of the covid-19 pandemic between this Thursday and the following Monday. According to the calculations made by mathematicians from the Instituto Superior Técnico, at that time there will be about 45,000 diagnosed cases of infection and 40 deaths per day. Yesterday in fact there were just over 43,000 and 46 deaths so in terms of deaths slightly higher.

After reaching close to 45,000 daily cases, Portugal’s epidemiological curve should begin to decline in the following days. On the other hand, the peak of hospitalizations and intensive care should arrive at the beginning of February.

The transmission rates are continuing to decrease, so this maybe a good sign that the peak will, as the experts state, be in a matter of days and therefore towards the end of next week, new cases begin to decrease from the highs we are currently experiencing. In terms of hospitalisations, those in ICU and deaths we are well below the levels at this time last year.

A reminder that since Monday users aged 40 or over can self-schedule, to receive the booster dose against covid-19. The self-scheduling request is made on the SNS website dedicated to vaccination. Self-scheduling is also open for people over 60 years old (booster dose and flu shot) and those over 18 years old vaccinated with Janssen for 90 days or more.

Portugal has already administered 4 million booster doses of the vaccine against COVID-19. Of these, and until the end of yesterday, January 17, 2,041,675 doses had been administered to users aged 65 or over. Since the start of the vaccination campaign against COVID-19, in total, close to 20.2 million doses of vaccines have been administered.

Over the last two weeks DGS has made a number of changes to their website and as a result of this page links have therefore changed. As a consequences some people may have experienced difficulty finding various services and in some media reports even up to now are still providing links to pages which no longer exist. We have updated our website accordingly giving priority to the vaccination page. The new links are on that page relative to vaccinations and digital certificates. There may well be more changes so if you encounter any difficulty with any DGS/SNS page please let us know.

Yesterday we published a report “Social Balance 2021” concerning poverty in Portugal. One alarming statistic (and there several) was that among those who are poor, 43% live in homes without sufficient heat. The report noted that nearly a quarter of the elderly could not afford to heat their homes. We will be publishing more from this report over the next few days, but it is sombre reading especially as the survey which led to the findings was conducted just before or early in the pandemic, when the full effects had not yet been felt.

The above is one of the reasons why police (PSP and the GNR) have safe elderly programs here in Portugal checking regularly on the elderly living alone in isolated areas. It is important that we all do what we can through the various charities here, to help those in need, and in the case of elderly neighbours to check from time to time they are OK especially in this colder weather at present

With that have a Safe Day

Headlines

WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19 — 18 January 2022

Director – General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus – “Omicron continues to sweep the world. Last week, there were more than 18 million reported cases. The number of deaths remains stable for the moment but we are concerned about the impact Omicron is having on already exhausted health workers and overburdened health systems.

In some countries, cases seem to have peaked, which gives hope that the worst of this latest wave is done with, but no country is out of the woods yet. I remain particularly concerned about many countries that have low vaccination rates, as people are many times more at risk of severe illness and death if they’re unvaccinated.

Omicron may be less severe, on average of course, but the narrative that it is mild disease is misleading, hurts the overall response and costs more lives.  Make no mistake, Omicron is causing hospitalizations and deaths, and even the less severe cases are inundating health facilities. The virus is circulating far too intensely with many still vulnerable.

For many countries, the next few weeks remain really critical for health workers and health systems. I urge everyone to do their best to reduce risk of infection so that you can help take pressure off the system. Now is not the time to give up and wave the white flag.

We can still significantly reduce the impact of the current wave by sharing and using health tools effectively and implementing public health and social measures that we know work.

I am proud COVAX delivered its one-billionth dose over the weekend. Of course it’s not enough and we should do more.

At a time of Omicron, it remains more important than ever to get vaccines to the unvaccinated.

Vaccines may be less effective at preventing infection and transmission of Omicron than they were for previous variants, but they still are exceptionally good at preventing serious disease and death.

This is key to protecting hospitals from becoming overwhelmed. We’ve been able to track new variants like Omicron and this virus’ evolution in real time thanks to efforts of thousands of scientists and experts around the world.

More than 7 million whole genome sequences from 180 countries have now been submitted to GISAID, which was initially set up to track flu. This pandemic is nowhere near over and with the incredible growth of Omicron globally, new variants are likely to emerge, which is why tracking and assessment remain critical.

New formulations of vaccines are being developed and assessed for how they perform against Omicron and other strains. I am concerned that unless that if we change the current model we’ll enter a second and even more destructive phase of vaccine inequity. We need to make sure we share current vaccines equitably and we develop distributed manufacturing around the world.

We can only beat this virus if we work together and share health tools equitably. It’s really that simple”.

COVID-19 DGS Situation report for 18^TH January 2022

Confirmed: 1,950.620 (+43729 / +2.29%)

Admitted in hospital: 1,955 (+17 / +0.88%)

Admitted to ICU: 160 (-14 / -8.05%)

Deaths: 19,380 (+46 / +0.24%)

Recovered: 1.598.454 (+42055 / +2.70%)

Active cases: 332,786 (+1628 / +0.49%)

TRENDS

Deaths are above the average of the last seven days (31.3) and well above the average of the last 30 days (20.1).

The Lisbon and Tagus Valley region recorded 25 deaths from covid-19 in the last 24 hours: the highest number ever since the beginning of the pandemic in Portugal

New cases are the highest for one day since the start of the pandemic, however,

Largest daily number of recoveries since start of pandemic

A smaller increase in hospitalisation since over one week.

A moderate decrease in those in ICU, but general trend remains fairly stable following small increases over the last few days.

Lowest daily increase in active case for some time.

COMPARISON WITH 2021

On this day last year there were a large 167 additional recorded deaths, 5165 in hospital, an increase of 276 from the previous day and 664 in IC

Health

Covid-19: more than four million people are vaccinated with the booster dose

The update of the administration of booster doses of the vaccine against covid-19 was made, in the early afternoon of this Tuesday, by the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).

Of these four million doses, “and until the end of yesterday, January 17, 2,041,675 doses were administered to users aged 65 or over”, specifies the DGS.

Taking the opportunity to make a total balance, the DGS points out that since the beginning of the vaccination campaign, on December 27, 2020, “nearly 20.2 million doses of vaccines have already been administered”.

The DGS reiterates, in the statement sent to the newsrooms, that “vaccination is the best form of protection against serious illness, hospitalizations and death”, and reinforces the appeal to “people, over 40 years of age, who are not yet vaccinated with the booster dose” schedule the vaccination on the DGS portal.

Attorney General’s Office opens investigation into the death of a child at Santa Maria Hospital

The Attorney General’s Office confirmed today the opening of an investigation to investigate the case of the death of the child with a positive test for SARS-CoV-2 on Sunday at the Hospital de Santa Maria.

In response to SAPO24, the PGR’s communication office confirms “the opening of an inquiry that runs under the Lisbon DIAP”.

The Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Norte (CHULN) announced this Monday that a six-year-old boy who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 died on Sunday at Hospital Santa Maria and that the causes of death are being analysed.

The hospital said, in a statement, that the child was admitted to Hospital de Santa Maria on Saturday with “a condition of cardiorespiratory arrest”.

“The child had the first dose of the vaccine against covid-19, and CHULN notified the case to Infarmed and the Directorate-General for Health”, says the statement.

Also this Monday, Infarmed confirmed that it had received the notification of suspected adverse reaction in the case of the child who died.

“We confirm that we received the notification of a suspected adverse reaction today and that it is being treated by Infarmed together with the Regional Pharmacovigilance Unit of Lisbon, Setúbal and Santarém”, said the National Medicines Authority

According to the national regulator, “additional data are being collected by the notifier for the analysis and assessment of the imputation of causality, since, since the apparent temporal relationship is not the only determinant in the assessment of causality, it is necessary to proceed with the collection of all clinical information”

Twelve emergency team leaders at the Beja hospital present their resignation

Twelve emergency team leaders at the Beja hospital today resigned from their posts, claiming they are unable to treat patients with quality and safety, mainly due to the lack of doctors and work overload.

In the resignation request, to which the Lusa agency had access, the 12 heads of the Internal Medicine team consider that “the current conditions do not allow to ensure care to patients with the quality and safety due” in the Emergency Department (SU) of the hospital of Beja, managed by the Baixo Alentejo Local Health Unit (ULSBA).

Therefore, the specialists presented the resignation of the positions “until a reassessment of the situation” of the SU, “with resolution of the lack of medical human resources and reappraisal of the competences of the team leaders”.

The doctors refer that the decision to present the resignation was taken now “due to a ‘dragged’ situation of decline in working and organizational conditions” of the SU, “to which the attention of the board of directors” of the ULSBA was requested. , “innumerable times, without any effective response”.

The resigning team leaders consider “a two-week deadline to schedule a meeting between interested parties” and warn that, “in the absence of a response, additional measures are planned”.

The 12 team leaders have also asked to be excused from civil liability, along with four more specialist doctors from the Beja hospital.

According to the resigning doctors, the covid-19 pandemic “has worsened the conditions, already precarious, in which the work is carried out” in the hospital’s emergency rooms.

European Centre asks governments to treat covid-19 like flu

European centre calls for a change in strategy in the future, so that countries do not live forever in public health emergencies.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) is asking European countries to consider a change in strategy in the treatment of covid-19: to start monitoring it as if it were the flu virus.

In the case of Portugal, this could mean having data updated weekly and not daily, as is currently the case with the daily bulletins of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).

An ECDC source told the Spanish newspaper “El País” that countries must “make the transition from an emergency surveillance system to more sustainable and goal-oriented ones”.

Across Europe, governments have reduced periods of quarantine and isolation, due to higher vaccination rates.

In Portugal, the National Institute Dr. Ricardo Jorge (INSA) monitors the flu virus on a weekly basis. JN contacted INSA, DGS and the Ministry of Health about whether a change in strategy was being considered, but has not yet received a response 

Portuguese Dental Association warn of the dangers of buying dental appliances and services on the net

The Ordem dos Médicos Dentistas (Portuguese Dental Association) launched a campaign to warn of the dangers of orthodontic teleconsultations and the purchase of dental appliances online, a situation that has already been reported to the Health Regulatory Authority.

The association is concerned about the growing offer of medical-dental services on the internet without the intervention of the dentist, including orthodontic self-treatment in which the patient directly places the device.

“All this comes from the participation of several colleagues and also of some patients regarding the growing offer of dental services”, through online advertisements, which misrepresent “the principles of medical practice”, explains the chairman of the association.

Miguel Pavão points out that orthodontic treatment has “some complexity” and requires “knowledge of the facts by the dentist and also a close and highly committed follow-up” by the specialist.

“You can never dispense with any type of diagnostic, planning, evaluation and control consultations, and what can never be at stake here is the patient taking crucial steps towards that same diagnosis”, he warned.

Miguel Pavão exemplified that there are cases in which the patient himself performs the self-assessment, through selfie-type photographs obtained by cell phone.

“In certain cases, it is the patient who makes impressions [study models] himself, who makes the record of the arch and the shape of his teeth, and this really has some risks for the patient and calls into question errors in this diagnosis and obviously throughout the treatment plan”, he stressed.

After this procedure, the devices (generally aligners) are sent to the patient by mail for a fee, and the monitoring of the progress of the treatment takes place, mostly or exclusively, without physical contact between the dentist and the patient.

Although the Portuguese Dental Association has already conveyed this concern to the Health Regulatory Authority , it decided to launch a campaign aimed at the population to warn of “the serious consequences of these procedures, whether results of inferior quality, the need for additional treatments or, in the most serious cases , irreversible damage to oral health”.

Covid-19: Infarmed confirms notification of suspected adverse reaction in the case of a child who died

According to the national regulator, “additional data are being collected by the notifier for analysis and assessment of the imputation of causality”

Infarmed confirmed that it received today notification of a suspected adverse reaction in the case of the death of a child who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 on Sunday at Santa Maria Hospital.

“We confirm that we received the notification of a suspected adverse reaction today and that it is being treated by Infarmed together with the Regional Pharmacovigilance Unit of Lisbon, Setúbal and Santarém”, stated the National Medicines Authority.

According to the national regulator, “additional data are being collected by the notifier for the analysis and assessment of the imputation of causality, since, since the apparent temporal relationship is not the only determinant in the assessment of causality, it is necessary to proceed with the collection of all clinical information”.

This review precedes its reporting to the European EudraVigilance database, the system for managing and analysing information on suspected adverse drug reactions that have been authorized or under study in clinical trials in the European Economic Area.

The Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Norte (CHULN) announced today that a six-year-old boy who tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 died on Sunday at Hospital Santa Maria and that the causes of death are being analysed.

The hospital said, in a statement, that the child was admitted to the Hospital de Santa Maria on Saturday with “a condition of cardiorespiratory arrest”.

“The child had the first dose of the vaccine against covid-19, and CHULN notified the case to Infarmed and the Directorate-General for Health”, says the statement.

According to data from the DGS, since the beginning of the pandemic, three children have died from covid-19 between zero and nine years old. 

Portugal is fourth EU country and sixth in the world with the most new daily infection

Portugal is the fourth country in the European Union (EU) and sixth in the world with the most new daily cases of contagion with SARS-CoV-2 per million inhabitants in the last seven days, according to the statistical website Our World in Data.

According to data updated on Monday, the member state with the highest average of new infections is France, with 4,370 per million inhabitants, followed by Denmark (3,970) and Ireland (3,590), while Portugal has an average of 3,440 new cases per million inhabitants in the last seven days.

Worldwide in this indicator, and considering only countries and territories with more than one million inhabitants, at the top of the list is Israel, with a daily average of 4,440 new cases, followed by France, Australia (4,100), Denmark, Ireland and Portugal.

Last week, Portugal was the seventh EU country with the most new cases, with a daily average of 2,390.

The European average on this indicator rose this week from 1,830 new cases to 2,130, while the world average rose from 307 to 372.

In the EU context, the countries with the lowest average number of new cases per million inhabitants are to the east: Poland (377), Romania (439), Slovakia (534) and Hungary (653).

Last week Portugal was the fourth with the fewest deaths attributed to covid-19 per million inhabitants in the previous seven days, with an average of 1.52, but today it is at 2.67

The member state with the highest average of seven-day daily deaths continues this week to be Bulgaria, with 10.9, followed by Poland (9.6), Slovakia (8.8) and Croatia (8.4).

Bulgaria, Poland, Georgia (9.4), Slovakia and Greece (8.1) are the countries with the highest average daily deaths attributed to covid-19 worldwide.

The EU average for this indicator stands at 3.98 (slight increase of four tenths) and the world average at 0.9, one tenth more than last week. 

Border Enforcement – Covid-19 measures

More than 2,300 passengers were fined, between December 1 and January 16, for trying to enter Portugal through air borders without a negative test for SARS-CoV-2, the Ministry of Internal Administration (MAI) indicated this Monday.

According to the MAI, 41 airlines were also fined for boarding these passengers without a negative test.

In an assessment of this measure to control cases of covid-19, MAI told the Lusa agency that, between December 1 and January 16, PSP and SEF inspected 1,586,295 passengers and 15,309 flights, which resulted in 2,370 offences. .

Of the 2,370 infraction notices, 1,561 were raised by the PSP, which controls passengers from flights originating in the Schengen area (European area of ​​free movement of people), and 809 by the SEF, which inspects travellers from countries outside the Schengen area. .

Since December 1, 2021, all passengers arriving in Portugal by air are required to present a negative test or a recovery certificate upon disembarkation.

Passengers on domestic flights, children under 12 years of age and crews are exempt from the obligation of testing, PCR or rapid.

Airlines that carry passengers without a negative test incur a fine of between 20,000 and 40,000 euros per passenger and travellers are also subject to an administrative offence, between 300 and 800 euros, for not presenting a test on arrival.

The MAI also states that the 2,370 infractions include eight foreigners who were refused entry into the country because they did not present a test on arrival, since it is only allowed to take the test at the airport to citizens of Portuguese nationality, foreigners residing in Portugal and diplomatic personnel.

Land Border Control with 17,021 Random Operations

At land borders, also since December 1, citizens of countries outside the European Union and EU countries considered to be at red or dark red risk need a negative test or a recovery certificate.

Citizens from EU countries considered to be at low or moderate risk must have a vaccination, test or recovery certificate to enter Portugal.

The GNR and the Foreigners and Borders Service carried out 17,021 random surveillance operations at land borders until January 10th to ensure tests for covid-19, according to the MAI.

Within the scope of these operations, more than 100 thousand inspections were carried out on light and goods vehicles, motorcycles, trains, buses, which gave rise to 36 administrative offense notices for lack of a test or recovery certificate.

The MAI also mentions that 532 diagnostic tests were carried out at land borders. Control at the border areas will last until 9 February.

Other news

SEF- Execution of arrest warrants two detained

The Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) detained two foreign citizens in Lisbon who were pending arrest warrants, the agency announced this Tuesday in a statement sent to newsrooms.

One of the detainees is a 35-year-old Cape Verdean woman, with an international arrest warrant “issued by the Cape Verdean authorities, for the purpose of extradition”, is indicted for the crimes of kidnapping, aggravated murder and criminal association, and will be still present this Tuesday to a judge to know the coercive measures.

As for the other foreign citizen arrested, the SEF has not disclosed the nationality, revealing only that she was arrested on Monday at Humberto Delgado airport, in Lisbon, in compliance with an arrest warrant for crimes of forgery and breach of trust.

North Region – If it doesn’t rain this month, mild drought in the North could turn to moderate

If it does not rain by the end of the month in the North region, a drought situation that is at a “critical” point could worsen and “the outlook is not good”, a source from the IPMA stated told Lusa.

Since November, the North region has been in a weak drought, with the exception of the northeast region, in Trás-os-Montes, where “there are points with moderate drought”, according to Vanda Pires, from the Department of Climate and Climate Change at the IPMA.

“This is the time that will greatly determine the evolution of the drought and the month of January is critical, because, if there is no precipitation, and large amounts of precipitation are not expected, at least until the end of the month, the tendency is for this to happen and itwill get worse,” she continued.

With this perspective, it remains “to be seen if in February there is any recovery”, not least because “then we start to enter months of the year in which there is less and less precipitation”, she underlined.

Therefore, he insisted that “January was a crucial month here for this situation not to worsen, but the outlook is not good”, adding that the region “may move to the moderate drought class”, with severe drought in the region of Bragança.

“We have four drought classes [mild, moderate, severe and extreme] and we are still in the first class, the least intense, but we are evolving to moderate. Bearing in mind that we have already been in the weak for two months, three consecutive months of drought, when there are three winter months, in which there is normally precipitation, these impacts could already be greater now, during the end of the month and beginning of February ”, detailed.

The specialist said that “they have been years with less and less rainfall, years with levels ​​far below normal in many of them, since the 1990s, but above all since the 2000s”.

 

Portugal Situation Report Wednesday 12^th January 2022

Introduction

Good morning – Over the last 10 days we have seen large daily increases in new Covid-19 cases as well as an increase in hospitalisations – the latter however is still 60% lower for the same time last year. As far as the numbers in ICU are concerned, they remain around 150 far below the 567 recorded on the same day last year. There are signs of an increase in the number of deaths, but last week these were still 81% lower for the same week last year. Welcome news yesterday was that there some 43,000 recoveries – a record. We await developments especially whether the transmission rate continues to decrease, and of course the incidence rate which last Monday was 3204.4 for Portugal.

However, I start today with a plea from the hospital services. If you think you have Covid-19 or if you have had a positive self-test, do not, under any circumstances, go to the emergency rooms of hospitals in the Algarve, the chairman of the Board of Directors of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve said yesterday.

This is because, there has been great pressure from “completely asymptomatic” patients with Covid-19, which makes it difficult to provide assistance to those who really need urgent treatment.

Although this plea is from one particular hospital, the same situation applies in other hospitals throughout the country. The correct action in these circumstances is to call the SNS 24 help line. It may take some time to get through, but hospitals are under considerable pressure at present and they need their resources to deal with real emergencies.

Yesterday in Novas, Santarém, the Centro Hospitalar do Médio Tejo (CHMT) suspended from immediate effect visits to patients admitted to hospitals in Abrantes, Tomar and Torres Novas, as a temporary and preventive measure in view of epidemiological developments of covid-19. In a statement, the CHMT stated it was a “preventive measure that aims to further safeguard the safety of sick people who are hospitalized in hospitals, as well as health professionals”. A further example of the pressure on hospitals.

On a different topic, yesterday the tax authority (AT) issued an alert that false emails in the name of the authority are being sent to some taxpayers. These contain an invitation for taxpayers to send “their request for tax refunds so that” so they can “process it as soon as possible”, followed by a malicious ‘link’ where the taxpayer is asked to click. This type of phishing attempt is not unusual this time of the year and are the work of fraudsters trying to obtain financial information such as bank details. Simply delete and do not reply or click on any links.

Positive news is that the European Union (EU) is preparing a proposal that aims to tighten the fight against child sexual abuse content circulating on the internet. The new legislation is expected to be presented in the coming months. According to the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, with the new regulation, tech giants would have a legal obligation to “identify, report and remove this content”.

Currently, a provisional law allows technology companies to choose whether or not to pursue reports of content related to child sexual abuse. According to Euronews, the voluntary nature of this regulation means that for six months of 2021 companies stopped reporting these complaints for fear of non-compliance with the new European privacy regulation, introduced at the end of 2020. Let us hope that this new regulation is put in place as soon as possible.

On a similar theme, following a decision by the Portuguese Episcopal Conference in November 2021, an Independent Commission has been established to carry out a study on Child abuse (from 0 to 18 years of age) within the Portuguese Catholic Church. Anyone who has suffered this type of situation can and should give their testimony, relying on the team’s professional secrecy and the guarantee of their anonymity.

The commission yesterday set up a website for this purpose asking: “Were you a victim of sexual abuse during your childhood and adolescence (up to the age of 18), practiced by members of the Portuguese Catholic Church or people who work for it?” If so those victims can provide testimony directly to the commission. If you need to contact them or require further information the website is at https://darvozaosilencio.org/   About 50 testimonies have already been validated through an online survey or completed in a phone call”, as at 1830 hrs yesterday.

A reminder that self-scheduling for those age 45 and over for the booster vaccination is now available through the DGS portal.

The Self-scheduling for those age 30 and over, if you were previously given the Janssen /J&J vaccine for the booster vaccination is also available through the DGS portal. There is likely to be a large demand in these age groups so we suggest people to be patient if the system is overloaded.

The process is the same on this link here https://covid19.min-saude.pt/pedido-de-agendamento/

Also a reminder where you can find the current covid 19 measures in place as a result of the last Resolution of the Council of Ministers published 7^th January. Our page on the website with these measure is here. Please check here first of all, before asking us questions on our Facebook page as it helps in reducing the large number of enquiries we are receiving.

https://www.safecommunitiesportugal.com/major-incidents/all-risk-municipalities/

With that have a good day and stay Safe.

 

Headlines

Covid-19: Omicron could infect 50% of the European population in the coming weeks

The World Health Organization (WHO) predicts that more than 50% of Europe’s population will have Covid-19 in the next six to eight weeks. The projection was advanced by Hans Kluge, the regional director of WHO Europe during a press conference this Tuesday.

Hans Kluge recalled that the unvaccinated are six times more likely to need hospitalization than the vaccinated. The specialist noted, however, that the most recent data show that the effectiveness of the vaccine drops after the second dose, but is recovered by the third dose.

Asked about the inequity of vaccination between continents, the specialist considered that there is no contradiction in Europe (which is advancing with reinforcements while in other continents the first dose has not yet reached the majority of the population). Hans Kluge believes that the approach to this issue should not be “one or the other”, but rather promote vaccination on all fronts.

“As long as there is vaccine inequity, the pandemic will not end,” he said. “No country is going to strengthen itself [to the point of exiting] out of the pandemic alone.” The regional director acknowledged, however, that although Europe has led the donation of vaccines to the most impoverished regions, it must increase this effort.

According to the most recent data, Europe reported in the first week of 2022 more than seven million new cases, “more than doubling” the number in two weeks. “Mortality rates remain stable and remain high in countries with many cases and low vaccination coverage.” The Omicron variant has been detected in 50 countries in Europe and Central Asia and is becoming the dominant variant and expanding into the Balkans.

Despite tending to present milder symptoms, Hans Kluge once again underlined that Omicron should not be “underestimated” and that it is highly contagious due to its mutations, and can affect even recovered and vaccinated people. “Infection control remains very important.”

Covid-19 DGS Report 11^th January 2022

Confirmed: 1.693.398 (+ 33,340 / + 2.01 %)

Admitted: 1.564 (-24 /-1.51 %)

Admitted to ICU: 153 (-8 /-4.97 %)

Deaths: 19.161 (+ 28 / + 0.15 %)

Recovered: 1.404.786 (+ 43,513 / + 3.20 %)

Active cases: 269,451 (-10,201 /-3.39%)

TRENDS

New cases increase compared to yesterday to over 30,000 – above last week’s daily average

A moderate decrease in hospital admissions after yesterday very large increase

Deaths higher than yesterday and higher than last week’s daily average. Highest daily number since 5^th March 2021

Record number of recoveries in a single day

A decrease of those in ICU compared with an increase yesterday and a decrease the day before

COMPARISON 2021

On this same day last year 122 deaths were recorded, and 3983 were in hospital (+213 compared to the previous day and 567 in ICU.

Health

Covid-19. Suspected adverse reaction in 0.1% of the 19.6 million doses administered in the country

In more than 19.6 million doses of the vaccine against covid-19 administered in Portugal, suspected adverse reactions were reported in 0.1% of these inoculations, an average of one complaint per thousand vaccines. There were about 21,500 cases registered by the end of 2021, according to Infarmed.

Most adverse reactions (10,993) are related to the Pfizer/BioNtech (Comirnaty) vaccine, followed by AstraZeneca (Vaxzevria), with 6166 reports, Moderna (Spikevax), with 2440, and Janssen, with 1878 cases.

Infarmed stresses, however, that these data “do not allow the comparison of safety profiles between vaccines”, since they were used in different population subgroups (age, gender, health profile, among others) and “in epidemiological periods and distinct contexts”.

Infarmed also emphasizes that, in the case of the 116 notifications of deaths in the elderly, the cause-effect relationship was not demonstrated. “The cases of death occurred in a group of individuals with a median age of 77 years and do not necessarily presuppose the existence of a causal relationship between each death and the vaccine administered, also taking place within the normal patterns of morbidity and mortality of the Portuguese population”.

The report also adds that, of the cases of adverse reactions classified as serious, “about 85% concern situations of temporary incapacity (including absenteeism from work)”.

Covid-19: Hospitals in the Middle Tagus suspend visits to hospitalized patients

Torres Novas, Santarém, January 11, 2022 (Lusa) – The Centro Hospitalar do Médio Tejo (CHMT) suspended from today visits to patients admitted to hospitals in Abrantes, Tomar and Torres Novas, as a temporary and preventive measure in view of epidemiological developments of covid-19.

In a statement, the CHMT administration states that the three CHMT hospital units will “temporarily suspend hospital visits, as of today”, a “preventive measure that aims to further safeguard the safety of sick people who are hospitalized in hospitals”. CHMT hospitals, as well as health professionals” of the institution.

“Given the epidemiological evolution of the country and the municipalities served by the CHMT, as well as taking into account the alerts that are launched today by the WHO – World Health Organization – about the foreseeable evolution of the pandemic in Europe, the Board of Directors of the CHMT considered it essential the temporary suspension of the possibility of visits”, adds the hospital institution based in Torres Novas, in the district of Santarém.

The decision, which enters into force today, “will be reassessed periodically and according to the evolution of the epidemiological situation”, with the CHMT asking for “understanding and collaboration” from users and their families.

Government predicts 380,000 confined in legislative elections, a total similar to that of presidential elections 

The Government expects that in the January legislative elections there will be a number of confined citizens similar to that of the last presidential elections, around 380,000, the Minister of Internal Administration advanced this Monday.

“We are convinced, at the moment, that we will probably have, at the time of the elections, more or less the same level of people confined that we had in the last presidential elections, in which there were 383,346 confined citizens”, said Francica Van Dunem, in statements to the journalists at the ministry’s premises in Lisbon.

These data were provided by the government official, after meeting with the parties with parliamentary seats on the conditions for voting in the early parliamentary elections on January 30th.

“Regarding this total, there was a very small percentage of people who requested the vote at home, around 4%, that gives a number in the order of seven thousand”, he said.

Van Dunem began by saying that “between 2 and 8 January the average number of people confined was 428,644”, but that the new rules defined by the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) – the reduction of the period of isolation and the review of the risk contact concept – “in principle, they will tend to reduce by 30% the weight of people confined because they are infected, and by around 19% the weight of people confined because they are risk contacts”.

The minister also said that the idea that the country would reach the peak of infections by the new Omicron variant “either last week or this week” came out of the Infarmed meeting.

“Even admitting that this is not the case, that there will be some more time, we will probably already be in the downward phase by the time of the elections. The experience gathered from other countries that had this variant before us points to the fact that an exponential rise, reaching the peak, is also followed by an abrupt fall”, he explained. 

More than 2000 nurses asked to leave Portugal since the beginning of the pandemic

In the last year alone [2021], the total number of nurses who expressed an intention to emigrate corresponds to about a third of the new nurses trained annually by Portuguese schools”, says the OE in a statement. The Order of Nurses received 2413 requests for declarations for emigration purposes.

According to the data, 1230 requests were made in 2020 and 913 in 2021, especially in the second half of the last year, “a time when thousands of nurses leave schools for the market”, says the OE. “Thus, while until June [2021] there were 277 requests for the issuance of declarations, between June and December that number rose to 636”, states the OE.

“European countries, which in the last two years have carried out very aggressive recruitment campaigns, to which the OE has warned, continue to be chosen by Portuguese nurses, especially Switzerland, but the United Arab Emirates also receive, from year to year, year, more and more Portuguese professionals”, the order adds.

After Switzerland, Spain and the United Kingdom, despite Brexit, were the main destinations chosen by Portuguese nurses in 2021. 

Portugal has already vaccinated more than 300,000 children against COVID-19

More than 300,000 children aged between 5 and 11 have already started vaccination against COVID-19 in Portugal.

Considering that there are almost 626 thousand users in this age group, approximately 48% of children aged between 5 and 11 have already been vaccinated. It is noteworthy, however, that to date, about 45,000 children are not eligible for vaccination, as they contracted the disease in the last 90 days.

Children who were not vaccinated on these days will have the opportunity to schedule vaccination for the next periods dedicated to paediatric vaccination, starting on February 5th.

The number of new cases of COVID-19 in children has been increasing, so the Directorate-General for Health recommends vaccinating children in this age group.

Other news

Independent Commission for the study of Sexual abuses against children in the Portuguese Catholic Church

Pedro Strecht talks about “mission” and undertakes to analyse “everything that could have happened”, from 1950 until now, in terms of abuse committed against children. The Commission says that there is a “clear and unequivocal position” on the part of the Church for the whole truth to be ascertained and it will have access to ecclesiastical archives and all entities responsible for the protection of minors.

From 10 am on Tuesday, a website, a telephone line and all forms of mail (electronic or postal) will be available to collect reports of sexual abuse committed by members of the Catholic Church or its collaborators. The field of analysis is gigantic: the cases can have occurred from 1950 to the present, the reports can be made by people of any age and they can also involve both priests and lay people, as long as they are linked to organizations under the responsibility of the Church. The only condition is that the testimonies involve minors, between the ages of 0 and 18, who have been victims of any form of abuse.

The motto is “give a voice to silence” and that is the name of the website (https://darvozaosilencio.org ) which, from now on, will act as a reception point for all complaints. Or rather, “they are not denunciations, but testimonies”, says sociologist Ana Mendes Almeida, who is part of the commission and who will be responsible for the inquiry that will lead to the national study on the situation of sexual abuse practiced by the Church in Portugal. The invitation was made by the Portuguese Episcopal Conference (CEP) and, in line with the guidelines given by Pope Francis, Pedro Strecht, the child psychiatrist who presides over the commission really wants to “analyse everything that may have happened in Portugal” in this matter.

With “total autonomy and total trust” on the part of the Portuguese bishops, Pedro Strecht dispels the idea that there is resistance on the part of the Church to investigate one of the darkest chapters in its recent history.

Military numbers fall again in 2021

The number of military personnel in the Armed Forces (FAA) fell again in 2021, according to information obtained by the DN. Despite being still provisional, the data indicate that last year there were 23,347 soldiers in the FAA, 401 less than in 2020.

The evolution recorded by the Branches (Army, Air Force and Navy) shows that, since 2016, there has been an 8% decrease in the number of personnel, with emphasis on the enlisted personnel who fell by about 20% and the sergeants 1.1%, while the officers increased by 9% (plus 515).

At the moment the Portuguese Armed Forces have 5653 officers for 9820 enlisted men – each officer does not have two enlisted men to command. If we add the sergeants to the officers, this number (13,527) is much higher than the 9,820 soldiers in 2021.

“The structure level of an Armed Forces is one officer for every 30 soldiers and one sergeant for every 10 soldiers. Anything less than that is a huge waste. There shouldn’t be any FAA in the world with the approximate framing level. of Portuguese”, underlines Major General Carlos Chaves , secretary general of the recently created Movimento de Militares pela Verdade (MMV) and former advisor for Defence and Security to former Prime Minister Pedro Passos Coelho.

But the drop in the number of soldiers is even more significant if we go back to 2012, when, according to a balance sheet made by the Ministry of Defence, to which the DN also had access, there were 38,000 soldiers in the Armed Forces. This balance, whose values ​​have been rounded, includes not only the permanent staff and contracted personnel, but also the military in the reserve, hence the numbers do not coincide with those referred to by the Branches.