Portugal Situation Report Wednesday 31st March 2021

Introduction

Good morning – Let’s start with three pieces of good news.

The first of these were that yesterday Portugal recorded the lowest number of deaths from Covid-19 (two cases) since 6th September 2020. Two deaths too many of course. Figures continue to fall with the numbers in hospital the lowest since 23rd September and ICU 12th October. This reduces the considerable strain on the health services with active cases reducing by over 150,000 in just 8 weeks.

Secondly, that the German laboratory BioNTech announced yesterday that it plans to manufacture this year up to 2.5 billion doses of its vaccine developed with the American company Pfizer, 25% more than the one initially announced, as well as the authorization to withdraw six doses from a bottle, the company explained in a statement. This should make a considerable difference

The third piece of good news concerns crime. Violent and serious crime had a reduction of more than 13% during the year 2020, the Minister of Internal Administration, Eduardo Cabrita, announced yesterday and the crime of domestic violence, so common in Portugal, saw a 6% reduction in 2020, compared to 2019.

In the last few days there have been plenty of developments concerning the extension of the current State of Emergency measures until 23.59 hrs 5th April as well as air travel laws.

We emphasise concerning the State of Emergency – this is a simple extension taking effect with the same measures that are currently in place effective midnight tonight 31st March/1st April 2021.

However, having posted this we received in the region of around 200 questions concerning the existing laws which have been published over two weeks ago. The answers to many of these questions have been available since then through our website page here which contains the various measures in English.

Questions we received included: “Is the curfew still in place at 1pm on weekends?” Our reply “No it was last in place 2 months ago”!

This is of some concern as it may indicate that either some people are not keeping up to date with essential information, which affects daily activities, or they have been reading information from social media which is incorrect – there is much misinformation around. A cursory glance at news headliners or “one liners” on social media every other day or so, is not sufficient. We would encourage people to take more time in reading, in order to obtain a fuller understanding of the situation, so when government decisions and changes are made it is easier the understand the reasons and context.

Also, I wish to emphasise that, although we do our best to answer your questions regarding individual circumstances this is not always possible. We do not make the laws so generally the information available to us, does not go beyond what is contained in the laws themselves.

There were also several questions we received regarding vacations and travelling to Portugal at this time and asking whether or not they should travel. We cannot give an opinion on this only relay the facts. However, it is important to understand that any overseas travel involves a high degree of risk at present. Not necessarily the risk of catching Covid-19, but the fact that the situation can change any time. Each country is monitoring their own situation closely and clearly should the situation change for the worse, and in order to protect its own citizens, the country concerned may introduce greater restrictions. These can range from travel bans, the requirement for negative testing and/or entering into quarantine on arrival. So if you book a holiday or travel for any other reason, then do it on the understanding that it may well have to change.

As I mentioned in my last comment on Saturday, we act almost as a bridge between the little information that is available on the Government Estamos On site and the Decrees themselves, a situation more complicated by the fact that our volunteers provide this in English.

It is important therefore that everyone keeps up to date with the information by visiting our website. This is of particular importance over the next two days or so as government meets tomorrow to finalise the next stage of the de-confinement plan.

Lastly, I wish to emphasise the warning given by DGS concerning poor air quality which has occurred on the mainland starting Sunday. This situation is due to the intrusion of a mass of air coming from the deserts of North Africa. This pollutant (inhalable particles – PM10) has effects on human health, mainly in the most sensitive population, namely in children and the elderly, whose health care must be redoubled during the occurrence of these situations. We published this twice on Monday night when the warning was issued and again on Tuesday morning.

We thank all those 208 of you who shared this important safety information reaching so far over 35,000.

The prompt sharing of information when there is a threat to health and public safety is essential in order to get key official messages and advice across. It is in everyone’s interests, so please help others by doing so. This is where social media plays a vital role.

With that please have a Safe Day.

Headlines

Costa among world leaders who want an international treaty to combat future pandemics

“Together, we must be prepared to predict, prevent, detect, evaluate and respond effectively to pandemics in a coordinated manner”, reads the document signed by several world leaders, including the Portuguese Prime Minister

World leaders called for the cooperation of the “international community” in the framework of a new international treaty to prepare for and respond to future pandemics, in a document published this Tuesday in several newspapers and also released by the World Health Organization (WHO).

For the more than 20 signatories, including Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa, the new treaty may signal “high-level political measures” needed to protect the world from future health crises.

“There will be other pandemics and other major health emergencies. No government or official departments can face this threat alone,” say world political leaders, mostly heads of state and government.

“Together, we must be prepared to predict, prevent, detect, assess and respond effectively to pandemics in a coordinated manner. The Covid-19 pandemic has shown severely that no one is safe until everyone is safe,” adds the document.

“We will have other pandemics and other major health emergencies. The question is not whether, but when”

“Today, we continue with the same hope that if we fight together to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic, we will be able to build a more robust international health architecture that will protect future generations,” argue world leaders.

Covid-19 DGS Situation Report

On Tuesday Portugal reported two deaths and 388 new cases of Covid-19, according to the daily report of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS). Daily figures compared to the previous day were as follows:

Confirmed Cases: 821,104 (+ 388 / + 0.04 %)

Number of admitted: 584 (-39 /- 6.16 %)

Number of ICU admitted: 129 (-6 /-5.1 %)

Deaths: 16,845 (+ 2 / + 0.01 %)

Recovered: 777,503 (+ 1654 / +0.2 %)

Active cases: 26,756 (-1268 /4.5%)

Safe Communities comparisons/trends showed that deaths were lowest since 6th September 2020; new cases – 4th lowest since 7th September 2020; recoveries were more than 4 times new cases and active cases were the lowest since 3rd October, decreasing 154,867 cases since 31st January 2021

Those in hospital were the second lowest since 2nd September and 6285 less compared to number in hospital 1st Feb and those in ICU lowest since 12th October 2020

Covid-19: MAI says there has been a “significant reduction in circulation” since Friday

The Minister of Internal Affairs said yesterday that there has been a “significant reduction in the circulation” of cars since Friday and “generalized compliance” with the rules of the State of Emergency due to the pandemic.

“Since Friday, there has been a significant reduction in circulation and general compliance by citizens with what are the rules resulting from the period of State of Emergency”, said Eduardo Cabrita, at the press conference presenting the general data of the 2020 Annual Homeland Security Report (ISAR).

The minister was asked about the restrictive measures during this Easter period, namely the ban on movement between municipalities since Friday and until April 5th.

The government official reiterated the importance of complying with the measures in order for the de-confinement plan to be carried out.

“Today we have the lowest contagion results in the entire European Union, which proves that the measures adopted in the past two months are producing good results, which translate into easing the pressure on the National Health Service, but we must continue and consolidate these results and it is up to everyone that next week is marked by compliance” he said.

In Portugal, 16,845 people died from 821,104 confirmed cases of infection, according to the most recent bulletin from the Directorate-General for Health.

Portugal is in a State of Emergency until April 15.

Teleworking

Telework until the end of the year, but the rules change.

Over the next few weeks, the government plans to keep everything as it is, but the parties want to regulate remote work and BE and PCP have already presented proposals in parliament.

Teleworking will remain mandatory until the end of this year, but the rules for this mandatory work may vary over time. Without a State of Emergency, or others that overlap, teleworking is imposed only in areas of the country that are defined by the government according to the epidemiological risk, employers are called upon to justify cases where functions are incompatible with telework and also changes the universe of the excluded from the possibility of remote functions.

Last Thursday, the government extended until the end of 2021 the validity of the legislation that, since November last year, imposed a time lag in workplaces with a minimum of 50 workers and mandatory teleworking, whenever possible, in high-risk counties according to the incidence of cases of infections with the new coronavirus.

This exceptional and transitional regime for reorganizing work and minimizing the risk of transmitting the infection of the Covid-19 disease, within the scope of labour relations, was the one that was in force until January, but this overlapped the State of Emergency, which generalized the rules of telecommuting and reorganization of schedules throughout the country and to employers of all sizes.

Prison guards

Covid-19: All prison guards in the country are vaccinated.

Lisbon, 30 March 2021 (Lusa) – All prison guards on the mainland of Portugal have already been vaccinated against the Covid-19, for a total of 8,800 vaccines applied in prison services, the Minister of Justice announced today.

“The vaccination process underway in the area of ​​Justice, namely in prison services, is going very well. At the moment there are already about 8,800 vaccines applied, which means that, at country-level, prison guards are all vaccinated, there are 4,000 people who have already taken a second dose, ”Francisca Van Dunem told reporters.

The minister was asked about the vaccination process against Covid-19 in the justice area at the press conference to present the general data of the 2020 Annual Internal Security Report (RASI).

Francisca Van Dunem also said that, in the prison system, “all non-credible citizens are already vaccinated and now a second phase has started for inmates with health problems”.

Also present at the press conference, the Minister of Internal Administration took stock of vaccination in the area of ​​internal security.

Eduardo Cabrita said that 16,000 firefighters and 20,000 members of the security forces were vaccinated against the Covid-19, 10,000 in the GNR and 10,000 in the PSP.

The minister stressed that the priorities defined were associated “exactly with the operational dimension”, having given priority to “those who are on the street” and have “a role as a patrolman or guarantor of the verification of compliance with the rules on the State of Emergency”.

Covid-19: Police feel “exhausted” one year after successive inspections.

Lisbon, March 30, 2021 (Lusa) – The Association of Police Professionals (ASPP / PSP) warned today of the situation in which the policemen who monitor the rules of the State of Emergency find themselves, saying that they feel “exhausted” and “mistreated ”.

Speaking to Lusa news agency, ASPP president Paulo Santos said that in recent times several complaints have been coming to the union that are at the forefront of monitoring the State of Emergency to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, showing outrage at the way they are being treated.

A year after the successive inspections began, Paulo Santos says that the police are “exhausted”, reaching “a limit situation” and feel “unfairly treated”, claiming that the Covid-19 is serving as an excuse not to be applied the law, as is the case of the impossibility of elements of the PSP to leave for the pre-retirement after having reached the maximum age limit, the 60 years.

The ASPP also reports on the policemen who were in the operational support and who have now been integrated into the Covid inspection teams, but who are not receiving the supplement that exists for this purpose, being paid “illegally” a subsidy in the amount of 1.80 euros per day.

According to Paulo Santos, the policemen who were in the operational support (secretarial work) should receive the picket supplement, just as they receive the agents who walk on the street, which has a value of around 140 euros per month.

Another of the concerns expressed by the PSP staff, according to the largest union of the Public Security Police, is related to vaccination against the Covid-19, in which about half of the policemen who walk on the street are still to be vaccinated.

As an example, ASPP mentions that half of the traffic division of PSP do Porto is not vaccinated and police commands where the number of vaccinated policemen does not exceed 60%.

According to the union, the operational support officers who have been integrated into Covid inspection teams and are “working on the ground extensively” have not yet been vaccinated, which translates to “irresponsibility in the management of these human resources”.

Education

Families helped students in online classes but lacked rest at home.

Most students had family support during distance learning in the first confinement, but for many it was difficult to find a quiet place to study at home or have equipment to attend classes online.

These are some of the conclusions of the study released by the Institute for Educational Assessment (IAVE), which attempted to identify learning failures during the suspension of face-to-face education, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but also to understand the conditions in which primary school students managed to follow the classes.

More than 23,000 3rd, 6th and 9th grade students responded to a survey in January and most admitted that there was a lot of effort at home in wanting to know if they were doing their schoolwork.

This concern was registered in more than 76 percent of the homes of boys in the 3rd and 6th years and dropped to 62.6 percent among students in the 3rd cycle, reveals the “Study Diagnostic Apprenticeships”.

“Families considered it very important to accompany their children”, stressed the president of IAVE, Luís Santos, during the presentation of the preliminary data.

Realizing whether they were learning was a constant in the homes of families with students at the three different levels of education (69.6 percent in the 3rd year said they received support, 72 percent in the 6th year and 57.4 percent in the 9th year).

Economy

Food and specialty retail sales fell 1.5 percent last year.

In 2019, the total sales volume of the retail sector had reached 22,996 million euros, according to the Barometer of Portuguese Association of Distribution Companies (APED).

Food retail sales increased by 8.1 percent last year, compared to 2019, to 15,621 million euros, while specialised retail fell by almost 18 percent (17.7 percent) to 7,032 million euros.

“The restrictions imposed due to the Covid-19 pandemic had a strong impact on the different specialized retail markets”, stresses APED.

In food retail, the product category that recorded the greatest growth was frozen, which increased its sales by 17.6 percent, followed by the light snacks which rose 16.6 percent, and grocery, with 11.6 percent.

Sales in the perishable category increased by 11.5 percent and beverages by 10.9 percent. The dairy category increased by 5.7 percent and hygiene and cleaning 4.2 percent.

“In 2020, the private label market share was 35.1 percent, having increased by 1.4 percentage points” compared to the previous year, according to APED.

By distribution channel market share, hypermarkets increased by 0.2 percentage points to 23.6 percent, while supermarkets recorded a decrease of 1.4 percentage points to 57.7 percent.

The hard discounter’s channels and other locations recorded increases of 0.6 and 0.5 percentage points, respectively, to 11.2 percent and 7.5 percent, in the same order.

With regard to specialised retail, the computer market was the one that “grew the most” in 2020, with a 23.1 percent increase in sales volume to 671 million euros, while the one that recorded the greatest decline was clothing, with a decrease of 32.5 percent to 1,405 million euros.

Other news

Portugal will send 60 military personnel to Mozambique. Contingent leaves in the first half of April.

The sending of this contingent of 60 Portuguese military personnel of the Special Forces, is framed by the new framework agreement for bilateral cooperation that is being finalized by the Portuguese and Mozambican ministries, said the source.

In an interview with Lusa released on February 17, the Portuguese minister, João Gomes Cravinho, estimated the contingent of “special forces” to be deployed in Mozambique to around 60 military personnel, assisting through the training and preparation of the African country in the combating terrorism.

“What we are going to highlight are trainers to train marines and commandos. They are military personnel who have these skills, Special Forces”, said Gomes Cravinho at the time, stressing that the planning with the Mozambican authorities is underway.

The Mozambican defence minister had already indicated to the Portuguese government the intention to visit Portugal, but there are no dates yet, according to the same source.

Regarding the new framework agreement for technical-military co-operation between Portugal and Mozambique, to take effect in the next three years, Gomes Cravinho stated that he does not contemplate major changes in content, but represents an “intensification” of cooperation with this country, following the current threat context.

Portugal Situation Report Saturday 27th March 2021

Introduction

Good morning – If ever a title was needed for this morning report it would be “Don’t shoot the Messenger” – please read on!

Yesterday, the Council of Ministers, approved electronically the decree that regulates the renewal of the State of Emergency, which will be in force until 23:59 on April 5th. There was initially some confusion concerning this, since the Assembly of the Republic had approved the President’s proposal which extended the State of Emergency until 15th April. Hence we queried this with government before publishing.

The reason was explained by the Minister of State and the Presidency who stated that “The government decided to extend the current decree until April 5th and decided to evaluate what the rules are from April 5th on the next meeting on April 1st”, that is, “we will decide with more current data and closer to reality on that day”. This means that the measures currently in place will remain until 5th when the de- confinement measures are confirmed (or changed). This seems a sensible approach making use of updated data closer to the time.

The council of Ministers also announced, “the extension of the ban on movement outside the municipality of the home, daily, starting at 00:00 on March 26th until 23:59 on April 5th, without prejudice to the exceptions provided for.”

I have to say, given that we have been monitoring this for over a year, the timings concerning the start and finish of the travel ban over the Easter period, were to say the least unclear. The Government website “Estamos On” did not give timings and many people, the media and indeed ourselves initially were under the impression from interpreting the law, that that the start was 8pm as usual finishing on 5am on 5th – again as usual. The government then yesterday published a rectification decree stating the start date was 00.00 on 26th meaning midnight 25/26th which we quickly published, but this did not clarify the finishing time. As early as yesterday morning, many media were reporting this as 05:00 hrs 5th but clearly this was not correct. The Council of Ministers finally clarified this. To date Estamos On has not been updated with the timings. This would make matters very clear and is a recommendation we have made to government.

I mention this at length because we often get people complaining as though it is somehow our fault. I can assure you that the reverse is true and if something is unclear we approach government at a senior level to ask them to explain.

The problem is that there is, in our opinion, a gap in government written communication – “Estamos On” which is our view is too brief and does not provide essential information, compared with the decree laws which are most detailed but so lengthy people do not have time to read albeit understand. Safe Communities therefore acts as a bridge to try and give more detail that people should be aware off – doing this in English of course makes this even more difficult.

We turn now to transmission rates which will have a bearing on the de- confinement phased implementation. According to INSA data on the epidemic curve of infection by SARS-CoV-2 released today, for the five-day period between 17th and 21st March, the Algarve has an Rt of 1.19, the Alentejo of 1.02, the Azores 1.04 and Madeira 1.05. The remaining regions of the country have a virus transmissibility index below 1: North 0.95, Centre 0.85 and Lisbon and Tagus Valley 0.89. It would seem from the press briefings yesterday that the increasing rates are a matter that government is monitoring very closely and another reason why the reason to defer a decision concerning the de- confinement plan. We will keep you up to date accordingly.

Both the GNR and PSP have made it very clear that they are stepping up enforcement over the Easter period staring 26th March. Since 00:00 this Friday (yesterday) it is forbidden to move between municipalities. The measure will run until April 5th to avoid gatherings at Easter time. For the PSP the “Easter at Home” operation is in force, during which the PSP (who police the larger cities) promises to be attentive to all travel, whether on foot or by car.

With the warmer and continuing dry weather, we again need to remind us all to avoid starting a rural fire. Yesterday there were two in the Algarve, one in Tavira brought under control in less than 30 minutes with the rapid deployment of a helicopter and the other in Boliqueime, also brought under control.

Yesterday the ANEPC issued a notification to the population warning of the risk of rural fires. In addition the fire-fighting program has been strengthened in 5 districts in the north of the country. Comparing with the reports of rural fires in 2020 from the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF), it was concluded that this year the fires more than doubled in relation to March 2020 and the burnt area is almost seven times larger.

In the next few days the fire risk will be increasing especially in the Algarve, so if you are burning debris or scrubland ensure you obtain authorization beforehand and that you take the necessary safety precautions. The GNR are enforcing these measures and if you have not taken these steps you can expect a hefty fine.

Stay Safe and have a good day

Headlines

Covid-19: Costa warns that next week is “very critical” and calls for “completely different” Easter.

The Prime Minister, António Costa, warned today that the next week is “very critical” for the process of deflation and called on the Portuguese to have a “completely different” Easter from usual.

At the end of the inauguration of the requalification of the Monte de Caparica Secondary School, in Almada, António Costa reiterated the warning made also by the Minister of Education, Tiago Brandão Rodrigues, who accompanied him on the visit.

“We are in a week that is very critical, but that is absolutely decisive, particularly for the future of this school”, said Costa.

The Prime Minister recalled that the Government’s de-confinement plan provides that, on April 5th, they can return to face-to-face classes in the second and third cycles and, two weeks later, the secondary.

“For this to happen, it is absolutely essential that we are able to continue to keep the pandemic in check,” he said, referring that, if the incidence of cases continues to fall, the rate of transmission has been rising.

In a reference to the matrix presented two weeks ago and which will guide the advance, stop or retreat in the deflation, Costa warned that “in that square, the dot will move”.

“On the one hand, in a good way, but on the other, in a dangerous sense, towards the yellow side”, he warned.

The Prime Minister defended that the country “cannot lose what it has achieved in the last two weeks”, but warned that “nothing is yet won” and Portugal “cannot go back”, leaving a request.

“Let us all assume that Easter is going to be completely different from the Passover of our lives, so that our lives can be resumed as they used to be and we can have, in the future, the Passover that we all wish everyone, with those loved ones that we want to be here to spend other Easters’ with us”, he said.

Costa expressed his confidence that “the sense of responsibility that the Portuguese have expressed throughout this year, will once again fully assert itself this week”.

Government decides to extend current decree law until 5th April.

On April 1st, the Government decides whether there will be changes to the de-confinement plan, announced the Minister of the Presidency, recommending the Portuguese to “be cautious” at Easter.

This Friday, Mariana Vieira da Silva left two central messages after the Council of Ministers meeting: “caution” and “fulfilling the duty to stay at home” during Easter week are needed and the Government will re-evaluate the restrictions in effective April 1st.

The Minister of State and the Presidency referred that, on March 11th, there were 105 cases of Covid-19 per hundred thousand inhabitants in 14 days and the risk of transmission – R (t) – was 78 and currently there are 67.7 cases and an R (t) of 0.81. In other words, the R (t) is increasing and approaching 1. But “the incidence has been reduced, which is a factor of contentment in this first phase of deflation”, he acknowledged.

“The path we have taken shows that we are able to continue the de-confinement plan but it also shows that we have come very close to R (t) 1 and we need to be cautious in the continuation of the de-confinement process”, said Mariana Vieira da Silva, referring to the two lines identified to re-evaluate the averages: 120 cases per hundred thousand inhabitants and R (t) equal to 1.

“Although we remain in the green zone of this matrix, it does not mean that we are free to do all things,” he warned. “It means that we are in a position to continue the de-confinement plan”.

“The government decided to extend the current decree until April 5th and decided to evaluate what the rules are from April 5th on April 1st “, that is, “we will decide with more current data and closer to reality on that day “, she announced.

“It is a decision of caution and warning,” she stressed. “The rules up until April 5th will be the same as today,” she stated, highlighting the ban on movement between municipalities and the duty to stay at home.

Covid-19 Situation.

On Friday Portugal recorded 5 deaths and 488 new cases of Covid-19 according to the daily report of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS). The statistics were as follows.

Confirmed Cases: 819,698 (+ 488 / + 0.05 %)

Number of admitted: 669 (-26 /-3.7 %)

Number of ICU admitted: 155 (+1 /- 0.6 %)

Deaths: 16,819 (+ 5 / + 0.02 %)

Recovered: 771,339 (+891 / +1.1 %)

Active cases: 31,540 (-408 /-1.2%)

Safe Communities comparisons/trends show that: deaths are lowest since 10th October 2020; new cases – 2nd highest in 6 days; recoveries were double new cases. The number in hospital has decreased to the lowest since 4th October and those in ICU the lowest since 17th October 2020 – Active cases: Lowest since 11th October, decrease of 150 083 since 31st January. There are no deaths in Algarve, Alentejo, north and Azores.

IMPORTANT NOTE:

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

Health

Testing.

Portugal is expected to receive about 12 million tests for Covid-19 in the coming weeks. The mass testing plan is being adapted and plans to cover everyone, without exception.

“The concept is to prevent, test and diagnose” confirmed Fernando Almeida, coordinator of the task force for the mass testing plan and President of the National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge.

This morning, at a press conference, the Minister of State and the Presidency confirmed “the strategy of very significant enlargement of the tests “.

In an interview with SIC Notícias, the task force coordinator said that the objective is to promote testing, as a “move of anticipation with some criteria”. However, he stressed that testing “just for testing” is the criterion that they do not want to use.

Vaccinations.

Portugal yesterday (Friday) surpassed one million vaccinees with the first dose of one of the vaccines against Covid-19.

And, at the same time, 500 thousand second doses will be reached, according to a source in the vaccination plan’s task force.

“The barrier of one million first doses of vaccines administered against Covid-19 is already surpassed in Portugal today,” the source of the task force coordinated by Vice Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo told the Lusa agency.

The same source added that “at the same time, the value of about half a million second inoculated doses will be reached”, with Thursday being “the day with the highest volume of doses administered: 50 thousand”.

Portugal started vaccinating the population on December 27th, 2020

Vaccines – AstraZeneca.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, said this Thursday night, at a press conference just after the meeting with the leaders of the 27, that AstraZeneca has to ensure its commitments to supply vaccines to the EU before to be able to export doses outside the European space.

“We must guarantee our citizens that they have access to what is due to them and that is why we agreed that pharmaceutical companies must honour contracts with the EU before they can export to other regions in the world – and this is, of course, the case for AstraZeneca”, said von der Leyen, adding that this is also “evident” for the company itself.

Data released this afternoon by the official reveal that 18.2 million adults out of nearly 400 million EU citizens have already received the second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, thus leading to only 4.1% of the European population being fully immunized. “We would have been much faster in delivering vaccines if the pharmaceutical companies had fulfilled the agreement. AstraZeneca delivered fewer doses than those contracted by the contractor required,” said von der Leyen.

With the number of cases of Covid19 rising again in Europe, the 27 repeat that it is necessary to accelerate the production of vaccines and to ensure that the pharmaceutical companies, with whom contracts were closed, fulfill the deliveries even if it is necessary to resort ” to all instruments, including a ban on exports if necessary, “said António Costa. However, he adds that it is essential to safeguard “always the supply chains that are essential to ensure the smooth functioning of the industry, both in Europe and abroad”.

Vaccine Production.

Friday 1:37 pm – EMA approves new vaccine production site for AstraZeneca in the Netherlands.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) today approved a new vaccine production site for AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine in the Netherlands, a pharmaceutical involved in controversy due to delays in the delivery of vaccines to the European Union (EU).

“A new manufacturing site has been approved for the production of the active substance [of Covid-19 vaccine] from AstraZeneca. The Halix site is located in Leiden, the Netherlands, and will bring to four the total number of licensed manufacturing sites for the production of the active substance in the vaccine”, informs the EMA in a press release.

Also approved today by the EMA was a new production site (both active substance and final product) for the BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine in Marburg, Germany, stating in Stella Kyriakides’ note that this “is very good news”, which reveals that the EU is “working at full speed to increase the capacity to produce vaccines against Covid-19”.

Like any medicine in the EU, vaccines against Covid-19 can only be manufactured in places approved by the European regulator.

INE Covid-19 Statistics.

Friday 11:39 am – Daily average in the last seven days has dropped to last September levels.

The daily average in the last seven days of new infections by SARS-CoV-2 has dropped this week to values ​​that have not occurred since September 2020, according to data from the National Institute of Statistics (INE) released today (Friday).

According to the INE figures, on March 24th, there was a daily average of 451 cases of infection in the previous seven days (3,155 cases in total), the “lowest value since September 9th, 2020”, continuing the “sharp decrease” of the number of new confirmed cases in the last seven days “starting on January 28th.

The incidence rate of contagions at 14 days was, last Wednesday, 64 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants, well below the maximum of 1,667 cases verified on January 29th.

Vaccination of teachers starts this weekend.

The Minister of Health said this Friday that the vaccination process is going on as planned. “We are moving forward with good pace” despite the various challenges, “namely we will move forward this weekend with the vaccination of a significant part of the teachers”.

Marta Temido also said that Portugal will overcome the challenge of vaccinating 80 percent of people over 80 in the first quarter.

Covid-19: Students lose the most if de-confinement is not won – minister.

Lisbon, 26th March 2021 (Lusa) – The Minister of Education today considered the success of the de-confinement process “crucial”, warned that nothing is gained in the containment of the Covid-19 and defended that the students will be the ones who lose the most if the situation gets complicated.

These warnings were transmitted by Tiago Brandão Rodrigues at the opening of the expansion works to the 2nd and 3rd cycles of the Basic School of Parque das Nações, a ceremony attended by the Prime Minister, António Costa, and the Mayor of Lisbon, Fernando Medina .

In his brief speech, the Minister of Education began by recalling the times when he was a student at the University of Coimbra and when he was at Expo 98 as a volunteer, at a time when Parque das Nações was being launched and did not yet have school infrastructure or of health.

“Today, a series of school facilities is closed here. A legacy is left for all future generations who will pass through here,” he said, before referring to the country’s current epidemiological situation.

“We are at a crucial moment with the end of the second school term, already with teaching activities in kindergartens and in the 1st cycle. I want to say something about this process of deflation: The country is going through a complex period and nothing is gained”, he declared.

Tiago Brandão Rodrigues then said that he has spoken with teachers and mayors and that everyone knows that “the ones who have more to lose, if things do not go as they wish, are children and young people”.

Police Enforcement

Covid-19: About 300 vehicles inspected by the PSP on the 25 de Abril Bridge, only one without justification.

Almada, 26th March 2021 (Lusa) – Of the approximately 300 vehicles inspected this morning by the PSP at Ponte 25 de Abril, south-north direction, within the scope of the ban on driving between municipalities in mainland Portugal, to combat the pandemic of Covid- 19, only one circulated without justification.

“During the morning of today we were inspecting the vehicles that were circulating between south/north to enter the municipality of Lisbon, to check if they are complying with the prohibition of driving between municipalities and with the general duty of home collection”, he explained in statements to Lusa the PSP sub-commissioner Cátia Brás.

Circulation between municipalities in mainland Portugal has been banned since 00:00 today and 05:00 on April 5th (since amended to 23:59 on April 5th), the Monday after Easter, under the State of Emergency to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

The ban on driving between the 278 municipalities on the continent will be applied this Easter period daily, according to the deconfinement plan presented by the Government on March 11th and which came into effect last week.

According to Cátia Brás, of those inspected in Almada, “only one driver was not complying” with the rules, as he was unaware that the driving ban schedule had been brought forward one day, having been assessed by the authorities.

Covid-19: GNR closes two restaurants in Amarante with nine people inside.

Amarante, Porto, 26th March 2021 (Lusa) – GNR closed, in Vila Meã, municipality of Amarante, Porto district, two restaurants operating with nine people in the interior, in violation of restrictions to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.

In a statement, the official indicated that the action took place on Thursday, after a complaint “that accounted for the holding of lunches inside two restaurants”.

The military went to the locations, verifying that nine people were having lunch inside the two food and beverage establishments, disregarding the current regulations regarding the Covid-19 pandemic.

According to that police force, the nine people were identified and the administrative offense records were drawn up for failure to observe the duty to remain in the interior of catering establishments and for non-compliance with the general duty of home collection.

Tourism economy.

Tourism’s contribution to world GDP falls more than 49% in 2020.

The contribution of the tourism sector to the global economy has dropped to a “devastating” level.

The contribution of the tourism sector to the global economy fell to four billion euros ($ 4.7 billion) in 2020, 49.1 percent less than in 2020, due to the “devastating” impact of the pandemic, it was today announced.

The World Travel & Tourism Council ( WTTC ) stated that in 2019 the contribution of the tourism sector to the global economy was 7.8 billion euros (9.2 billion dollars).

After this decline, which contrasts with that of the global economy, which contracted by 3.7 percent, tourism now represents 5.5 percent of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP), against 10.4 percent in 2019, according to the WTTC’s annual economic impact report.

Tourism employment declined less, by 18.5 percent, to lose 62 million jobs, from 334 million (10.6 percent of the global total or one in 10) in 2019 to 272 million in 2020.

WTTC President and CEO Gloria Guevara stressed that, without prompt action by governments around the world by implementing measures to save jobs at risk, “today’s numbers would be much worse.”

However, the threat “persists” as many of these jobs are currently supported by state schemes for job retention and short-term work and, without a full recovery in the sector, could be lost, warned the WTTC.

The report also reveals a “shocking” loss in international travel expenses, which decreased 69.4 percent last year from 2019, while the drop in domestic tourist travel was less than 45 percent.

Portugal Situation Report, Wednesday 24th March 2021.

Introduction

Yesterday, as expected, was a very busy day with a plethora of updates during and after the Infarmed meeting.

These are presentations given by the various experts who are the key players in advising government officials, primarily the President, Prime Minister and others on the development of Covid-19 and providing various forecasts. It is based on these meetings held currently every two weeks, and discussions with political parties, that the President determines the need for the State of Emergency and if so, sets the framework for its further extension. Thereafter, the Council of Ministers determines the detailed measures needed in response to the situation, to be included in the decree law.

As we have done before, we provided a live update through our Facebook page linked to our website, of the summary of these presentations. I would describe this as a “one stop shop” of the current situation. To read beyond the headlines, this 5 minute read, provides all the information you need to know about the current situation and the forecasts from the experts concerned.

If you were unable to read it yesterday then you can view it here.

In other words to be “informed” stay tuned to “Infarmed”.

Following the Infarmed meeting, the Prime Minister António Costa stated “What I can say is that this is the Government’s understanding. At least until the end of this [de-confinement] process, it is necessary to maintain a State of Emergency to ensure that all steps are taken safely”. This appears to set the framework for the future at least until May when we reach the last phase.

We see an increasing number of comments recently of more movements on the streets. This of course is a result of the implementation of the various stages of de-confinement. The first of these was 15th March. What is important however is that such movements are proportionate to these changes. If this is excessive and this results in increases in cases, then the risks will increase as will the new cases. At this critical stage we must all continue to follow the measures in place.

Concerning vaccinations, there were various reports yesterday during the Infarmed meeting, of the progress so far. From the information provided, despite the constraints imposed by the reduced supply from AstaZeneca, Portugal is ahead of the average in Europe and is on-track to achieve the 70% vaccination of the population in summer. There is little point in comparing this say with the situation in the UK, as such comparisons are hardly productive. We live in Portugal and therefore subject to the overall supply to and within Europe.

There are more vaccines being developed and this can only improve the availability within Europe and other European countries. If we have to wait a two or three months longerr, then this is not the end of the world in the context. The pandemic only started 15 months ago and the fact that vaccines have been developed and that 461 million doses have already been administered in around 135 countries, is unprecedented in this time span! Our expectations are naturally high but this has to be tempered with patience in this time of crisis! We look to the vaccine suppliers to meet their contractual obligations in providing the vaccines as scheduled.

Turning to news last evening that teachers and non-teaching staff from pre-school, 1st cycle of basic education will receive an SMS, on Wednesday, to schedule the vaccination for Covid-19, advances the Ministry of Education.

The office of Minister Tiago Brandão Rodrigues says that teachers and non-teachers will have to reply to the cell phone message to confirm the vaccine, by Thursday, March 25th.

“The SMS schedule contains the location and time of the appointment” and will be sent “next Wednesday, March 24th, to which an answer must be given (yes / no), necessarily by Thursday, March 25”, the statement said.

This, as you can see, is important and time critical information with a very tight deadline. Time critical announcements in crisis situations is part of our remit at Safe Communities Portugal, so it is important that this is published and shared in an unambiguous way.

In doing this through social media, it is important that lines are kept clear and such key messages do not become distorted by comments and views unrelated to the topic. This would be the same if we were disseminating information in the case of a major rural fire or during any other catastrophe. The principals are the same, key officially sourced information and advice to reach as many people as possible.

As such, we take what some may considered a disciplined approach, by removing comments that do not subscribe to our standards which we have clearly outlined in the “About Us” section on our Facebook page. These set out the basic rules as to the use of our page, similar to various Facebook groups. This is important, as during this health crisis there is considerable misinformation in circulation using Facebook to spread various personal agendas. In the interests of the vast majority of our readers therefore we have to ensure there are appropriate safeguards in place. We thank you for your understanding.

Have a Safe Day.

Headlines.

The Prime Minister warns that the risk of transmission of Covid-19 is increasing in Portugal.

After taking part in yet another meeting on the evolution of the epidemiological situation, at Infarmed, in Lisbon, António Costa turned to the social network Twitter to underline that, although the country maintains a “stable” epidemiological situation, it is very important “to keep all precautions and apply preventive measures “. For the Prime Minister, the data he has received shows that “we are on the right track”. Things are going well,” said the Prime Minister during a visit to Liceu Camões, in Lisbon.

However, Costa wanted to warn of the fact that everything could change: “We have to go testing and measuring. Things don’t go well by chance. They only work if we maintain discipline,” he said.

The Prime Minister does not want to “ruin everything we have achieved” because “we are experiencing a dramatic month of January and February”. “Now that we have managed to conquer this situation, we must be able to keep it that way,” he said, referring to what happens in other countries “where” there was no capacity to control “the pandemic.

Covid-19

DGS Covid report published yesterday once again showed a downward trend in all key areas as follows:

Confirmed Cases: 818,212 (+ 434 / + 0.05 %)

Number of admitted: 743 (-28 / -3.8 %)

Number of ICU admitted: 159 (-6 /-3.6 %)

Deaths: 16.794 (+ 10 / + 0.05 %)

Recovered: 769,086 (+ 1212 / + 0.15 %)

Active cases: 32,332 (-788 / – 2.3%)

Safe Communities comparisons/trends: show that Deaths 3rd lowest since 10th October; new cases – below last week’s daily average and one of lowest since 1st September; Recoveries nearly 3 times new cases; In hospital lowest since 6th October and 6033 less compared to number in hospital 1st Feb and lowest in ICU since 18th October 2020 – decreased by 81.6% since 1st February. Also active cases were the lowest since 12th October and a decrease of 149,291 since 31st October; those under surveillance lowest since August 2020 and there were no deaths in Algarve

Health

Remarks by Minister of Health following Infarmed meeting.

The Minister of Health, Marta Temido, stressed the need to “continue to fight the virus without relieving the precautionary measures” so that Portugal can continue its positive trajectory in the face of the evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the press conference after yet another presentation session on the epidemiological situation in Portugal, the Minister stressed the need to “maintain high attention and special caution regarding the approach to the next few days and weeks”.

Marta Temido also underlined the reinforcement of the testing strategy, which has included screenings on the return to school activities and other activities on the verge of resumption, and the evolution of vaccination. “It is worth underlining that we estimate that at the end of this week we will reach the goal we set for inoculation of at least 80% of people over 80 years of age, also estimating that we have more than one million Portuguese people vaccinated with an inoculation and about half a million Portuguese already with the complete vaccination process”.

The Minister of Health also affirmed that the beginning of the de-confinement process increased mobility and reduced teleworking and reiterated the call for the adoption of preventive measures, keeping teleworking whenever possible, restricting social contacts to what is essential and ensuring basic public health precautions.

Marta Temido referred that the epidemiological situation is stable, “with a decreasing trend in the number of new cases, hospitalisations and mortality”, and added that the current epidemiological risk “has an incidence in a level between 60 and 120 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants over the last 14 days and, in terms of effective risk of transmission, it is now at a risk of 0.88 for the mainland.

The Minister also warned of the European context, since most countries have “a major incidence and effective transmission risks are also considered high”. Marta Temido stated that this is an “adverse and worrying” context.

Highlights from yesterday’s Infarmed meeting.

From yesterday’s meeting these are the main points that were made by the experts:

The R (t) has been rising since February, but so is the incidence of cases, although it will probably stabilize at 60 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants within 14 days. Baltazar Nunes, from the Ricardo Jorge Institute (INSA) says that it is necessary to look at these numbers together, to analyze the Risk Matrix;

The active population has the highest incidence of cases, especially in the 20-30 age group;

André Peralta Santos, from DGS, indicated that the population aged 40-60, “to be completely safe”, should be included in vaccination;

Portugal has a 70% prevalence of cases related to the United Kingdom variant. The most recent data, not yet fully accounted for, however, points to a level already above 80%;

These figures are in line with the other European countries, but, underlined expert João Paulo Gomes, it is important to control flights and entries in Portugal in order to continue to evaluate and control the cases and variants that enter the national territory;

The lethality rate of Covid-19 is 2%, that is, in every 100 cases, there are two that are fatal.

Despite the delays related to Astrazeneca, Portugal maintains its intention to reach 70% of those vaccinated during the summer, and it is still possible, according to Henrique Gouveia e Melo, to achieve this number at the beginning of the summer season;

This week Portugal should reach the number of 1 million vaccinated with the first dose and 500 thousand vaccinated with the two inoculations;

In April, “about 1.8 million vaccines” will arrive in Portugal.

Vaccinations

Vaccination of 280 thousand teachers and staff starts this Saturday.

Over the next weekend, around 80 thousand teachers and staff in public and private kindergartens and elementary schools will be vaccinated against the Covid-19, including full-time school activities. The professionals of the other levels of education should be called throughout April as the de-confinement process advances and the opening of more schools, confirms the Ministry of Education in a statement sent to newsrooms, realizing that educational establishments are already receiving information about the process.

On the same note, it is reported that the AstraZeneca vaccine was chosen to protect this professional group that only recently entered phase 1 of the vaccination plan, becoming part of the priority groups. Portugal currently has over 200 thousand doses of this vaccine in stock, ready to be used.

The “safety and efficacy” of this product was again confirmed by the European Medicines Agency last week, after some episodes of adverse reactions were investigated.

Altogether, and according to the figures presented by the co-ordinator of the task force at the meeting at Infarmed held on Tuesday morning, this first group of 80 thousand professionals corresponds to 28% of a population of about 281 teachers and non-teachers that will be vaccinated in the coming weekends.

Covid-19 Variants.

João Paulo Gomes, from the Ricardo Jorge Institute, stated yesterday at the Infarmed meeting that almost 100% of Covid cases in England are from the United Kingdom variant and this should be the trend in the rest of the countries, being just “a matter of time”. “The UK variant is expected to be in more than 80% of cases in our country.” “Almost all countries are expected to have a near 100% prevalence of the UK variant.” In Portugal, we have a prevalence of 70%, although, says the specialist, it is expected to reach 80% of cases shortly.

João Paulo Gomes also explained that the rapid tests will not allow the search for new variants. Mass testing is positive, but it has this problem, says the expert. To solve it, he proposes to increase the sampling of PCR tests, which are the ones that allow the analysis and surveillance of variants, by increasing the network of laboratories – private and the public sector.

There are 24 cases of the South African variant identified in Portugal (250 in the United Kingdom, 300 in Belgium). João Paulo Gomes stresses the importance of flight control and travel history, as this variant is spread across European countries that have many flight connections with Portugal. “The last thing you want is for the same thing to happen to the UK variant, which is widespread.”

Movement increase.

“Bad behaviour” grows slightly. Use of mask falls, mobility increases.

Yesterday during the Infarmed meeting it was announced that there had been an improvement in the behaviour of the population since September in relation to measures to combat the pandemic.

However, in the last two or three weeks there has been a “slight increase in worse behaviour”.

The Portuguese consider that washing hands, for example, is an easy measure to adopt, the same is no longer happening with two meters distancing and visits to friends or family.

The use of a mask outside the home and with other people decreased slightly, from 91% who always wore in February to 86% by March 19th.

Portuguese mobility is also growing. The frequency with which people left home in the last month other than to go to work went from 17% to 26.4% in a month. In the distance of 2 meters, it went from 8.9% to 12.2%. In relation to being with ten or more people, the percentage is now 4.9%, when a month earlier it was no more than 1.8%.

Facebook deleted more than 1.3 billion fake accounts at the end of 2020.

Facebook announced on Monday that it had deleted more than 1.3 billion fake accounts between October and December 2020. 12 million fake contents about Covid-19 and vaccination against the disease have also been removed, in an effort to contain the spread of false information.

According to the social network managed by Mark Zuckerberg, there is a team of 35,000 people working to find and remove false information on the platform, in addition to artificial intelligence software that detects fake content.

In a statement published in the “Newsroom” area of ​​Facebook, the social network also revealed that it removed more than 100 networks of “co-ordinated false behaviour”.

In addition to the team of thousands of people who identify fake content, Facebook said it has built “a global network of more than 80 independent fact-checkers, who review content in more than 60 languages.”

On the Covid-19 pandemic, a topic that has been exploited to the fullest by conspiracy theories and fake content networks, Facebook said that the 12 million pieces removed are the result of “using artificial intelligence systems to bring down materials related to Covid-19 that international health experts have flagged as misinformation, and from there detect copies when someone tries to share them”.

The company also responded to criticisms that the social network does not act quickly enough to respond to the spread of disinformation, guaranteeing that it has “all motivation to keep false information out of our applications and we have taken several steps in this direction, to the detriment of growth in the number of users”.

Almost 90% of Portuguese want to be vaccinated.

According to a survey carried out by ISAG, more than a third of the Portuguese say they do not have preference over the brand of the vaccine, but the one that conveys more confidence is clearly that of Pfizer.

Almost 90% of Portuguese (87.2%, strictly speaking) want to be vaccinated, reveals a study by ISAG – European Business School and the Centre for Research in Business and Tourism Sciences, from the Consuelo Vieira da Costa Foundation.

Victor Tavares, one of those responsible for the study, explains to Jornal de Notícias that it is “evident that there is a feeling and confidence regarding the vaccine, regardless of the brand selected”.

The survey analysed the preferred brand and 37% of the population replied that they had no position. However, 34.9% would opt for the Pfizer immunizer, far ahead of the 8.7% who would select AstraZeneca and the 5.6% who would choose Moderna.

Despite these trends, the majority of Portuguese people show confidence in any of the options: the Pfizer vaccine is “approved” by 68.2% of people, that of AstraZeneca by 60.3% and that of Moderna by 60.1%. The study predates the temporary suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine in Portugal.

The questionnaire included 1057 participants, of whom 3.7% have already been inoculated, 18.4% have been infected and 15% have lost someone close to the Covid-19.

Government plans to accommodate 1100 homeless people by the end of 2021.

The Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, said that the Government aims to accommodate 1100 homeless people by the end of 2021.

In Coimbra, in the signing of five protocols with institutions from Coimbra and Figueira da Foz in the context of Housing First and Shared Apartments solutions, the Minister stressed that the protocols signed so far have already covered about 300 people.

“We want to have integrated responses that respond to the various dimensions of the need for intervention: accommodation, psychological support, qualifications and retraining. Integrated interventions that include teams that accompany people who go to these Housing First or Shared Apartments solutions in a logic of reintegration” she said.

Ana Mendes Godinho said that “the critical question is to guarantee housing and accommodation first”, hence the creation of these two responses, under the National Strategy for the Integration of People in Homeless Situations (ENIPSSA).

The Minister stated that a platform is being prepared with the capacity to guarantee “a reading at national level of all the people being monitored and to identify the necessary measures for each person, in this concern for personalized and individualized responses”.

The Government is also finalizing the ordinance that regulates the National Emergency Accommodation Exchange, which will allow to have “a central base for the management of vacancies at national level for emergency situations, having here also the integration of public properties that can be used for this purpose of urgent social responses ».

Real Estate market.

Prices in the real estate market showed some recovery at the end of last year, with the Housing Price Index growing 1.5 percentage points to 8.6% in the last quarter of the year, the INE revealed this Tuesday.

In a year marked by the pandemic, the Housing Price Index (IPHab) increased 8.4%, 1.2 percentage points less (pp) than in 2019, according to data released this Tuesday by the National Statistics Institute (INE). The average annual increase in the prices of existing housing (8.7%) exceeded that of new housing (7.4%).

The statistics office also revealed that in the 4th quarter of 2020, the annual rate of change of the IPHab was 8.6%, 1.5 percentage points more than in the previous quarter. In this period, prices for existing homes increased at a slower rate than for new homes, 8.5% and 9.0%, respectively.

Other News

National Defence creates Harassment Prevention Unit.

This Monday, by order of the Minister of National Defence, a Monitoring and Follow-up Team – the National Defence Harassment Prevention Unit – was set up with the mission of monitoring and following up any complaints related to conduct likely to substantiate harassment, violence sexual or discrimination, when practiced by military, militarized and civilians who exercise functions in the National Defence.

This Unit will be located in the General Secretariat of the Ministry of National Defence, directly dependent on the tutelage.

With the creation of this Unit, it is intended to reinforce the responsibility of all the military, militarized and civilians who exercise functions in the National Defence, with regard to their conduct, in strict compliance with the principles of rigour and transparency, legality, equality and non-discrimination, in order to generate and maintain the credibility and prestige of the institution they represent.

This measure has already been implemented in several European countries and allies, of which Germany, Canada, Spain, the United States, France and the Netherlands stand out, and its main objectives are to improve the dissemination of existing communication channels, sensitise National Defence people to the theme, through training sessions; and to monitor the development of processes, allowing information to be obtained in a centralized manner, while ensuring that disciplinary competence and the responsibility for initiating the respective disciplinary processes remain with the entities provided for by law.

Portugal Situation Report Saturday 20th March 2021

Introduction

Good morning – On Thursday we reported WHO statistics showing that Portugal had achieved the greatest decrease in new cases in Europe over a four week period, namely – 80.5% whereas for Europe as a whole there was an increase of 21.5%. The decrease was sustained over the last week, with Portugal decreasing 22.7% compared with European of +6%.

However, the situation in some European countries is worrying with large increases and in France, Germany and Poland, lockdowns are being re-introduced in some regions as cities to try and control this growth.

The more measures are relaxed, the greater potentially the risk increasing in Portugal. At present the Rt on the mainland is 0.79 and incidence of 80 per 100,000 compared to the government threshold of Rt 1 and 120 per 100,000 respectively.

All this means is that we have to be very careful that our actions do not undo the great work that has been done over the last 5 weeks. In particular, we must have due regards to social distancing, hygiene and the wearing of face masks. We simply cannot afford to relax these measures.

At government level there will be close monitoring of the situation. especially following each phase of the de-confinement plan, and the correlation between increased movement and any increases in new cases. At this stage enhanced testing is important.

Turning to the AstraZeneca debacle, Portugal will re-start the program after a short pause following the announcement on Thursday by the European Medical Agency, that there was no connection between the use of this vaccine and the severe cases of blood clots reported in a very few cases a week ago.

Some have opined that Portugal should not have paused the program with such an apparent low risk. However, turning the coin, if it had not done so and virtually all other EU countries had, I can imagine the outcry. Although the figures indicated a very low level of risk, the nature of the risks were severe. Also it is important to bear in mind the figures presented were from the company itself, so it was important to establish some form of independent verification to ensure the situation was not only unconnected but also it was not more widespread. Anyway, Portugal will resume the program on Monday with the Vaccine coordinator Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo stating that “we will be catching up with these four or five days without vaccination”.

Regarding sports, yesterday the Government decided not to take any chances and the Professional Leagues games will remain closed to the public at least until May, as well as the Portuguese GP and Formula 1 Grand Prix. In respect of the latter events. the de-confinement plan does not allow such major events to take place until after 3rd May with an audience present. This decision seems wise given the current situation and in line with the cautious approach that government is taking. Any exception for F1 would, in our view, be difficult to justify. This however came as a surprise to some including Regional Tourism Algarve and other entities as they did not receive any official communication from the Government regarding this decision. We await developments.

Turning to the weather, the beginning of Spring today should have light or cloudy sky, some wind and maximum temperatures varying between 8 and 20 degrees, according to meteorologist Ricardo Tavares of the IPMA. This is some good news, but with this we must take care concerning rural fires. On Thursday, there was the first significant fire of the year in Guarda district, requiring the deployment of nearly 200 fire firefighters supported by 5 aircraft/helicopters.

It is especially important if you are planning to burn debris, that the burn is registered and approval sought. We emphasise the importance of following the safety guidelines which are very clear. As you can see from our earlier post today, the situation in the Algarve is highly conducive to rural fires with some seven municipalities on VERY HIGH level.

Since the pandemic began in Portugal in March 2020, 13 states of emergency have been decreed, and between May and November 2020, there were three situations of calamity, three of contingency and two of alert, some of which in only a few regions. No wonder we have been busy!

With that have a Safe Day

Covid-19

On Friday Portugal reported another 11 deaths and 568 new cases of Covid-19 , according to the daily report of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).

Confirmed cases: 816,623 (+ 568 / + 0.06 %);

Number of admitted: 789 (-28 /-4.7 %);

Number of ICU admitted: 182 (-5 /-2.6 %);

Deaths: 16.754 (+ 11 / + 0.06 %);

Recovered: 766,170 (+ 1571 / + 0.2 %).

Active cases: 33,699 (- 1014 / -2.9%)

Transmission rate R(t): Portugal 0.86 Mainland only 0.84

Incidence per 100,000 Portugal 87.2 Mainland only 75.7

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

Health

Covid-19: Portugal with 87.2 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants and 0.86 transmissibility index.

Lisbon, 19th March 2021 (Lusa) – Portugal today has an incidence of 87.2 new cases of infection with SARS-CoV-2 per 100,000 inhabitants and the transmissibility index (Rt) is 0.86, according to the joint bulletin the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) and INSA.

According to official data, when only the territory of mainland Portugal is analysed, the incidence is 75.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants and the Rt is 0.84.

The incidence refers to the number of new cases per 100 thousand inhabitants in the last 14 days.

These indicators are the criteria defined by the Government for the continuous assessment of the de-confinement process started on Monday.

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

The latest report on these indicators, released on Wednesday, found that Portugal had 90.3 cases of SARS CoV-2 per 100,000 inhabitants and a transmissibility index (Rt) of 0.84. Considering only mainland Portugal, the transmissibility index was 0.80 and the incidence was 79.1 cases.

INSA estimates that the Rt is 0.85 in the North, 0.86 in the Centre, 0.81 in Lisbon and the Tagus Valley, 0.82 in the Alentejo, 0.84 in the Algarve and 1.20 in the Azores. The report again fails to present data for the Madeira region, “due to the introduction of a large number of late notifications in the SINAVE database, which prevents a correct interpretation of the results”

Mass testing in some parts of Lisbon starts on March 31st.

Lisbon, 19 March 2021 (Lusa) – The Lisbon City Council starts on March 31st a free mass testing plan, aimed at residents of parishes in the municipality with more than 120 cases of Covid-19 per 100 thousand inhabitants, it was announced today.

At a press conference in the City Hall, the mayor, Fernando Medina, said that the ten parishes initially covered by the municipal testing plan are Ajuda, Alvalade, Arroios, Estrela, Marvila, Olivais, São Vicente, Santa Clara, Santa Maria Maior and Santo António.

Residents over 16 years of age in these territories, who register more than 120 cases of infection per 100,000 inhabitants, will be able to schedule a rapid antigen test by telephone in one of the more than 100 pharmacies in the municipality that has already adhered to the testing plan, the mayor said.

Each citizen will be able to do two tests per month, said the Mayor, adding that the list of parishes covered will be updated every two weeks, according to the evolution of the number of infected with the new coronavirus, and will be available on the websites and social networks of the municipality and the National Pharmacy Association.

The objective is “to monitor the gradual deflation, setting up a mass testing system to prevent the transmission of the virus in the community and reduce contagions”, stressed Fernando Medina.

AstraZeneca Vaccine.

On Thursday, the European Medicines Agency concluded its preliminary review of the AstraZeneca vaccine and issued a statement with the following advice for those who have had the vaccine:

“Covid-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca is not associated with an increased overall risk of blood clotting disorders.

There have been very rare cases of unusual blood clots accompanied by low levels of blood platelets (components that help blood to clot) after vaccination. The reported cases were almost all in women under 55.

Because Covid-19 can be so serious and is so widespread, the benefits of the vaccine in preventing it outweigh the risks of side effects.

However, if you get any of the following after receiving the Covid-19 Vaccine AstraZeneca:

  • breathlessness,
  • pain in the chest or stomach,
  • swelling or coldness in an arm or leg,
  • severe or worsening headache or blurred vision after vaccination,
  • persistent bleeding,
  • multiple small bruises, reddish or purplish spots, or blood blisters under the skin,

Please seek prompt medical assistance and mention your recent vaccination”.

Whoever refuses to be vaccinated with AstraZeneca goes to the end of the line (and will not even be able to choose another vaccine)”

Portugal will resume vaccination against Covid-19 with the AstraZeneca vaccine. And whoever refuses to be vaccinated with this one loses their turn, goes to the end of the line and even then, they will not be able to choose and will be immunized with the vaccine that is available at the time.

“The principle in the vaccination process is not to choose the vaccine, because the approved vaccines are equally good and safe,” explains Vice Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, coordinator of the task force for the national vaccination plan.

The vaccine was suspended in Portugal on Monday. However, there have already been reports of refusals from some people who demanded to be immunized with other vaccines.

“We explain that they will have to wait or wait for the allocation rule to change. We have already had doctors and dentists, for example, refusing, but the rule is simple: you can’t choose. It would be unacceptable. If people don’t accept the rule, and they have that right, they will have to wait. They will be vaccinated in the summer or after the summer”, explains José Luís Biscaia, executive director of the Health Centre Group of Baixo Mondego, to Público.

Also Diogo Urjais, president of the National Association of Family Health Units, says the same. “There have been rejections before and now there should be more. But refusing is impossible at the outset. The guideline is: the user does not choose the vaccine. We cannot eliminate the person from the list, what we say is that you will have to wait, at the risk of not being vaccinated. ”

Review of the legal framework for health emergencies.

The Minister of Home Affairs says that the legal framework for health emergencies will have to be revised after the pandemic. In an interview, Eduardo Cabrita also says that the deflation must be done with prudence.

Eduardo Cabrita says that the legal framework for responding to health emergencies will have to be revised, since the

State of Emergency was designed for other types of situations, and reveals that he has already asked the Ombudsman for a contribution on this matter.

“Now that this situation is overcome, we have to review this entire legal framework, starting with the law of the State of Emergency framework, which was designed primarily for situations of a coup d’état or a serious disturbance of public order and not for a framework of health response”, he said

The minister stressed that “the ability to have an adequate response” has been proven by crossing the law of the State of Emergency, the basic law of civil protection and the law of public health surveillance.

“But I agree that a review of this whole picture is necessary,” he said, stressing that “the good crossover” of these laws has been used, which has allowed “in essence to achieve the objectives” of combating the pandemic, although not have been designed for health emergency situations.

Fenprof calls “national fight action” for April 17th.

Fenprof’s secretary general states that the “national action of struggle” serves to demand from the Government “dialogue, negotiation and solutions” to the problems of teachers.

The National Federation of Teachers (Fenprof) will promote a “national action of struggle” on April 17th, in Lisbon, to demand from the Government “dialogue, negotiation and solutions” to the problems of teachers, the secretary-general announced today.

Mário Nogueira said at a press conference in Coimbra that the National Federation of Teachers will also claim “respect for teachers and educators”.

“It is Fenprof’s intention not only to demand dialogue from the Government (…), but also to denounce in the geopolitical space temporarily chaired by Portugal, the problems that are experienced in education, which affect teachers,” said Mário Nogueira, in an allusion to the Portuguese presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU).

The national concentration is scheduled for April 17th, Saturday, at 15:00, in the space adjacent to the Centro Cultural de Belém (CCB), in Lisbon, where, since January, “some of the most important events” of the rotating presidency have been held the EU.

The problems of teachers, according to Mário Nogueira “result from the fact that the so-called social dialogue, in our country, is little more than export product not consumed internally”.

Other news

Guimarães Hospital implants the worlds’ smallest pacemaker for the first time.

Guimarães, Braga, 19th March 2021 (Lusa) – The Cardiology Service of Hospital de Guimarães, in the district of Braga, implanted for the first time the smallest ‘pacemaker’ in the world, today announced that hospital unit.

In a statement, the hospital says that the device is the size of a capsule and is implanted in a minimally invasive manner, replacing traditional ‘pacemakers’ (cardiac stimulators).

“Until now, only Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Ocidental (Hospital Santa Cruz) and Centro Hospitalar Universitário São João (Porto) had carried out this type of interventions”, he adds.

The device is used for the treatment of patients with high-grade atrioventricular block (AVB), a condition in which the electrical signals between the heart chambers (the atria and the ventricles) are blocked.

This situation can result, among others, in syncope or sudden death.

Currently, patients with AV block are treated with a ‘pacemaker’, implanted in the upper part of the chest, subcutaneously, to which small electrical wires (electrodes) are connected, which are placed, through the veins, inside the heart, thus allowing that the electrical connection between the atria and the ventricles is re-established.

“This new ‘pacemaker’, the smallest in the world, does not need the electrodes, being placed directly inside the right ventricle, through a small access through the right femoral vein. Thus, there is no traditional surgical scar, and the risks associated with the traditional technique, such as infections or damage to the electrodes, are still significantly reduced.

The first procedure at Hospital de Guimarães took place on Wednesday and the patient has already been discharged.

Portugal received 8 migrants rescued by humanitarian ships.

This Thursday Portugal received 8 migrants rescued by humanitarian vessels off the Italian coast, which will be welcomed in the municipalities of Maia and Bragança. The citizens come from Liberia, Cameroon, Guinea-Bissau, Bangladesh and Nigeria and join the 224 that Portugal has welcomed, in recent years, rescued in the Mediterranean.

Portugal has responded positively to all emergency situations that result from rescues at sea. Reception and integration have been a priority of the Government, in a continuous effort between the central State and local authorities, as well as public and private entities, which has been recognized by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), by the Organization International Organization for Migration (IOM), the European Union and the Council of Europe.

Portugal was the 6th European country that received the most refugees under the EU’s Relocation Program, receiving 1,550 refugees from Greece (1,190) and Italy (360) between December 2015 and April 2018 – which were welcomed by 97 counties.

Within the scope of the Portuguese commitment to the European Commission to relocate up to 500 unaccompanied minors, there are already 78 minors in the country. According to data from Brussels, this month of March, Portugal is the 4th Member State that has received the most unaccompanied minors, after Germany, France and Finland.

Under the Administrative Agreement signed between the Ministry of Internal Administration of Portugal and the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum, which provides for the transfer of 100 beneficiaries / applicants for international protection in a pilot phase, a family of 3 has also arrived. Portugal also received 142 asylum seekers under the agreement between the EU and Turkey, between June 2016 and December 2017. This year it also received 5 unaccompanied minors from Greece.

Under the UNHCR Resettlement Program, 672 people have already been welcomed in our country, coming from Egypt and Turkey and with different nationalities (from Syria, Iraq, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, and Somalia). All of these citizens benefit from the Refugee Status granted by order of the Minister for Internal Administration, and hold a Declaration proving the International Protection Status while they await the issuance of the Refugee Residence Permit, under the terms of the Asylum Law.

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