Portugal Situation Report Saturday 13th February 2021

Introduction

When the new extension of the State of Emergency was announced by the Prime Minister on Thursday evening, it came as little surprise that the confinement would continue, perhaps through March.

It is clear that these existing measures, the latest border restrictions and the closure of schools has reduced the movement of people and therefore the risk of transmission. In fact, the latest figures show RT [transmissibility ratio] of 0.77. If this is maintained therefore the number of new infections will continue to decrease, thereby placing less pressure on the health service.

In the weekly indicators on the pandemic, the National Statistics Institute (INE) registered on Wednesday a total of 29,511 cases accumulated in the previous seven days, corresponding to 4216 new cases on average per day, “the lowest level since December 31st 2020 “.

Yesterday again, there was good news concerning the daily Covid-19 figures, namely that: deaths were the second lowest since 14th January and third less than 200; a large number of recoveries similar to Wednesday; new cases second lowest since 28th December; number of active cases lowest since 13th January and a 27.5% drop since 31st January; those under surveillance lowest since 15th January; Largest one day decrease in hospitalisations and a decrease by 1639 in 11 days. However, against this there was a slight increase in ICU’s

The Prime Minister and the Minister of Health have both emphasised that, despite the reductions we have seen over the last week or so, the numbers in hospital and ICU remain unacceptably high. The vaccination program has also suffered a setback due to the shortfall of vaccines produced by the manufacturers and this will be factor that the Government has to consider as well in determining when to lift the current restrictions in place.

The situation is also more complicated than previously, as there are a number of different variants of the coronavirus in circulation and these behave in different ways, so the task facing the health services has become far more complex.

António Costa made it clear that we must maintain the current level of confinement safely for the next 15 days and very realistically we will probably have to maintain it even during the month of March. He made an important point by saying that “in the same way that we should be pleased that the measures are producing good results, no-one should take them as sufficient reason to lighten the measures. We must maintain this effort”.

In other words ,as he said last year, we cannot take our foot off the brake at this stage, and undo what has been gained recently. This is indeed a lesson that needs to be learned, and we start today’s report with a very interesting interview of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, who admits the Government’s responsibilities in the aggravation of the Covid-19 pandemic in Portugal, in January, for the relaxation of measures at Christmas.

The new State of Emergency law comes into effect midnight Sunday 14th/ Monday 15th February and extends for 15 days until 23:59 hrs 1st March 2021. It was very clear from the Council of Ministers Communique that the measures remain the same, except the sale of books and school supplies is now permitted in retail establishments that are already in operation.

The Decree 3-E/2021 was published last night and confirms the only change from the existing State of Emergency is that books and school materials, must remain available to students and citizens in general in supermarkets.

Following news on Thursday that vaccinations of volunteer firefighters had begun, yesterday it was announced by the Ministry of Internal Affairs that in the next three weeks, 10,000 GNR personnel and 10,000 PSP agents will be vaccinated. The vaccinations start today.

Lastly, please be aware of a warning by The Regional Command of the Madeira Public Security Police (PSP Madeira), which is also applicable to mainland Portugal. They have warned the elderly that usually ‘well-dressed’ individuals, who often falsely identify themselves as doctors (médicos in Portuguese) or state officials/civil servants (funcionários do Estado/funcionários públicos in Portuguese) charged with carrying out statistical surveys for the creation of Covid-19 vaccination lists, will attempt to scam the elderly.

These individuals may ask for payments in cash for the vaccine and may falsely diagnose other illnesses, so as to extort more money. If you are approached it is important that a report is made to the GNR or PSP with as many details as possible.

Please remember that the ban on travelling between municipalities remains in place between 8pm Fridays and 5am Mondays’ except where permitted. These measures and others remain the same and are in force under the State of Emergency extension until 1st March 23:59 hrs.

We do not know what measures will be in place beyond this date.

Have a Safe weekend.

Headlines

European Commission warns against “fraudulent vaccines”

The European Commission warned this Friday of the risk of the purchase of “fraudulent vaccines” by the Member States, after reports that the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca has offered vaccines to the Czech Republic and three other Member States of the European Union (EU).

“Everyone should be extremely cautious when it comes to vaccines, because it is a matter of injecting an active substance into the human body. Therefore, one must be 100% sure that the channels used to buy vaccines are completely transparent and legitimate, “said the spokesman for the European Commission , Eric Mamer , during the daily press conference of the Community executive.

Mamer thus led a news item published on Friday by the Euractiv news portal, which cited statements by Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis that the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca had proposed a parallel purchase of vaccines to his government.

In the article, Babis stated that, “while AstraZeneca refused to deliver 80 million doses to the EU “, the Czech Republic and three other EU member states “received recurrent offers of this vaccine” through an “intermediary in Dubai “.

“Believe me, we would definitely have used this opportunity if it had been realistic. But we don’t have that money. And, of course, we have European agreements and we have to respect them,” said Babis according to Euractiv.

Asked about these statements, the Commission spokesman stressed that the process of joint purchase of vaccines made by the community executive serves to guarantee the transparency of vaccines, and said that “whatever is outside this channel”, must be “analysed with great caution “.

We thought there were conditions to facilitate it.” Government admits responsibilities at the peak of the pandemic

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, admits the Government’s responsibilities in the aggravation of the Covid-19 pandemic in Portugal, in January, for the relaxation of measures at Christmas.

In an interview with CNN International’s ‘Connect the World with Becky Anderson’ program, Santos Silva said he believed the strain of the new coronavirus initially detected in the UK was the main factor behind the peak of new contagion cases in Portugal in January.

However, the Foreign Minister acknowledged that the relaxation of measures to combat the pandemic at Christmas may also have contributed to the serious situation of the health crisis in Portugal.

When the journalist asked Santos Silva if the easing of containment measures at Christmas and New Year were behind the peak of contagions and deaths in January, the minister corrected it and recalled that the easing of restrictions only happened during the period Christmas, “when people were able to go and visit the family”.

Santos Silva attributed the worsening of the pandemic situation to the appearance in Portugal of the new strain initially detected in the United Kingdom, which “represents about half of the new cases” in the territory, rather than the relaxation of the measures.

“At the time, we thought there were conditions to make it easier. But in fact, we believe that the new UK variant was the main reason,” added Santos Silva.

Covid-19

On Friday, Portugal registers another 148 deaths and 2,854 new cases of Covid-19, according to the daily balance sheet of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).

Today’s data also reveals that more than 7,617 people recovered, bringing the number to 652,739 since the beginning of the pandemic in Portugal.

Taking into account the number of new cases, deaths and recoveries there are now 113,450 active cases down 4,912 from Thursday.

As for hospital admissions the DGS epidemiological bulletin reveals that 5,230 people are admitted to the infirmary, 340 less than the previous day – the biggest drop in the number of hospitalisations since the beginning of the pandemic – and 846 in intensive care , 10 more compared to yesterday .

The biggest reduction in the number of hospitalised patients until today was registered on February 9th, when the bulletin reported that 274 people were hospitalised.

Health authorities have 149,651 contacts under surveillance, down 5,647 from yesterday.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Portugal has accounted for a total of 15,034 deaths and 781,223 cases of infection by the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus,

Health

Covid-19: Marcelo received yesterday the first dose of the vaccine

President of the Republic was vaccinated at the Hospital das Forças Armadas, in Lisbon.

The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, “today received the first dose of the vaccine against Covid-19, at the Hospital das Forças Armadas, in Lisbon”, advances the Presidency of the Republic, in a statement.

The Head of State and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces “should receive the second dose even before taking office on March 9th”, adds Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s office.

Minister of Health ensures that vaccination in community pharmacies has always been on the horizon

The Minister of Health, Marta Temido, assured today that the eventual expansion of vaccination against Covid-19 to community pharmacies was “always” among the options of the ‘taskforce’ process, but admitted “unknowns” in relation to the long term. He also said that private laboratories will respond to an increase in testing for Covid-19.

“The issue of vaccination in community pharmacies is a hypothesis that has always been present on the horizons of all member states at a time later in the vaccination process. We still have many unknowns as to what will be the long-term development of this process, but it is of course, an expansion hypothesis that, as in other vaccines, we will have to keep in mind and we will consider if possible in terms of storage and the availability of partners ”, he said.

During a visit to the Joint Command for Military Operations, where the support group for the coordinator of the ‘taskforce’ of the National Vaccination Plan against Covid-19, Vice Admiral Gouveia e Melo, in Oeiras, is installed, the Minister avoided committing herself with a position in relation to vaccines developed in China and Russia and a hypothetical inclusion in the batch contracted at European level.

“It is a dossier that is being conducted by the European Commission and it is up to us, as the Presidency [of the European Union], to support the work of the Commission and monitor the work of the European Medicines Agency (EMA), of our national regulators. Infarmed is in the support group for the Commission for the vaccine process and that’s where we have the technical discussions”, she stressed.

Covid-19. Director of intensive medicine of S. João defends confinement until March 21st.

Speaking to the Lusa agency, José Artur Paiva defended that “the deflation cannot occur before two months of confinement”

The Director of intensive care service at Hospital de São João, Porto, defended today to maintain the confinement until March 21st, a measure accompanied by “robust” testing, suggesting 50 times more tests than the diagnosed cases.

Speaking to the Lusa agency, José Artur Paiva defended that “deflation cannot occur before two months of confinement”, counted from what he calls “real confinement”, that is, since January 21st, when the closure was announced schools to curb the contagion of Covid-19.

“I would say that the deflation must not start before March 21st,” he stressed.

Revealing that he “very much” appreciated the positions of the epidemiologist Manuel Carmo Gomes at the Infarmed meeting on Tuesday, when the professor at the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon criticized the Government in his last participation in this meeting of experts, José Artur Paiva reaffirmed the conviction that measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic must be taken “based on forecasts and not on evidence”.

“We have to be one step ahead of the pandemic. And these criteria cannot be just related to viral transmission,” he said.

The President of the College of Intensive Care Medicine of the Ordem dos Médicos defends the combination of three criteria before deciding: reduction of viral transmission, relief of the overload of the hospital system and robust public health measures.

“We have to be on a sustained basis with less than 2000 cases per day. We have to have Wednesdays and Thursdays [most prevalent days] below 2000 [cases for] weeks in a row and an RT [transmissibility ratio] below 0.8, sustained too. And a test positivity rate of less than 5% “, he described.

Marta Temido says private companies are able to increase testing capacity

The Minister of Health, Marta Temido, said this Friday that private laboratories will respond to an increase in testing for Covid-19, complying with the update of the norm of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) about testing risk contacts.

“We have the private laboratory network, with whom we have already contacted and in which we all need, more than ever, to put ourselves at the disposal of the country in this turning point and we know that there is also the capacity to significantly increase, both in tests of classic method, or in rapid antigen tests and availability for new methodologies “, he said.

In statements made on the sidelines of a visit to the Joint Command for Military Operations, where the support group for the task force coordinator of the National Vaccination Plan against Covid-19, Vice Admiral Gouveia e Melo, in Oeiras, is based, the Minister of Health highlighted the importance of revising the standard in relation to tracking contacts and the impact it can have in combating the pandemic at this stage.

“Among the various updated aspects, we have the answer to what the Ministry of Health had asked to be technically evaluated and that other voices also underlined this need, which is a more widespread use of laboratory tests, whether PCR tests or rapid antigen tests, in tracking contacts”, she said.

Marta Temido also pointed out that, “regardless of the level of risk, the determination is that all people should be referred for testing”, whether they are high or low risk contacts with an infected person.

“Then, [there will also be] another intensification of screening in certain environments at a stage that we are entering – in which we are beginning to see a decrease in incidence:,counteracting what is the lowest demand for an expansionary movement in the offer of detection of cases in the community, “he added.

Failure in deliveries leaves over a million Portuguese without vaccine by the end of March

Initial target cannot be met due to lack of vaccines. Mass inoculation is expected to be concentrated in the three summer months, during which eight million doses of the vaccine against Covid-19 may be administered, which will hamper government work.

The failure to deliver vaccines against Covid-19 will delay the vaccination of another million Portuguese, whose inoculation was initially scheduled bythe end of March. The Prime Minister, António Costa, informed this Thursday in a press conference that it was contracted to deliver 4.4 million vaccines against the new coronavirus in the first quarter, but that Portugal will only receive 1,980,000 during that period. As two doses of each of the three vaccines currently authorised are required (BioNTech / Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca/Oxford), this will only allow one million people to be vaccinated in full.

In the announcement of the vaccination plan, made at the beginning of last December, it was stated that in the first three months of the year it was planned to deliver more than four million doses, which would allow more than two million people to be inoculated in Portugal by the end March.

However, two weeks later, the then coordinator of the task force created by the Government to manage the vaccination plan, Francisco Ramos, admitted in an interview to the PUBLIC that “the doses that we would receive in the first quarter would hardly exceed 2.5 million. And even that, it is an optimistic scenario, which implies that the approval of the AstraZeneca vaccine occurs very quickly. It will most likely be less than that, surely a million and a half, between the Pfizer vaccine and that of the Modern”, said Francisco Ramos.

At the end of January, when it presented the balance of the first month of vaccination, the taskforce estimated to receive 2.2 million doses by the end of the first quarter, which would allow it to vaccinate with both doses 811 thousand people and another 520 thousand with only one. The real number should not reach that much, since, comparing these data with those made available this Thursday by António Costa, 234 thousand fewer doses will arrive in Portugal than was predicted 15 days ago.

Most of the vaccines administered in the first quarter will be from BioNTech / Pfizer (close to 1.3 million), with the arrival of 227 thousand doses of Moderna, according to the balance of the task force made on 28 January. The rest must be from AstraZeneca/Oxford, which was only authorised by the European Medicines Agency on the day following the balance of the first month of vaccination and whose first batch, comprising 43,200 vaccines, arrived last Sunday. As of this Wednesday, according to official data from the Directorate-General for Health, 415,283 vaccines against Covid-19 had been administered, with more than 116,000 people receiving both doses and close to 300,000 only one dose.

Schools

Covid-19. Exams postponed to July and September

The Minister of Education, in an interview with Rádio Renascença’s As Três da Manhã program, announced that the interruption of 15 days of teaching activity in January ‘pushed’ the school calendar backwards. There are two assessment tests that will not be carried out and the exams will be carried out in July and September.

Tiago Brandão Rodrigues announced this Friday that, due to the mandatory 15-day break in January, one of the measures taken by the Government to halt the growth of pandemic numbers in Portugal, the exams will be postponed following the new school calendar.

“As at the end of the year we will have another week of classes, the school calendar has moved forward and we will have a first phase of examinations to take place in July, instead of in June, and a second phase of examinations to take place, in September, instead of happening in July, as it traditionally does, “explained the Minister of Education in an interview with Rádio Renascença’s As Três da Manhã program.

Still in the same program, the government official also announced that the Physical Education and Artistic Expressions tests, scheduled to take place between May 3rd and 11th, for 2nd year students, were cancelled.

“Specifically, the Physical Education and Artistic Expressions tests, these yes, it was decided not to take place at this time, also because they were going to take place in May, they are the ones that take place closer to the moment where we are, and also by sharing of elements and for all the issues that we know “, he affirmed, assuming that it is” too early “to make decisions in relation to other disciplines.

At this moment, according to the calendar of external evaluations for the current academic year, the tests foreseen for the 5th and 8th year students, who between 17th and 26th May must carry out the oral interaction tests of English.

Enforcement

PSP identified and fined participants in an event at the Lapo restaurant, in Lisbon

The restaurant ‘Lapo’ in downtown Lisbon, which refused to close on January 15th, in the middle of a State of Emergency, broadcast this Thursday a direct posting on the social network Facebook, in which a group of people appears without physical distance or mask.

In the images you can see dozens of people with glasses of wine in hand in a festive environment, violating the restrictions to combat the spread of Covid-19.

“My friends, resistance is necessary. Open your business. Freedom is not asked for, it is exercised”, says the owner while listening to Zeca Afonso’s Grândola Vila Morena, inside the restaurant. The people inside are waving, without a mask or physical distance. At least one child is seen in the middle of the group.

The PSP raised 13 cases of administrative offence to participants in this illegal event that took place on Thursday night at the restaurant “Lapo”, in Bairro Alto, in Lisbon, today announced that police force.

In a note, PSP revealed that the participants in the event were identified “for participation to the competent authorities”, at 10 pm on Thursday, when they left the building where the restaurant “‘Lapo’, which was closed” is located.

The 13 administrative infraction notices were issued based on the “violation of the general duty of obligatory collection” by citizens.

International assistance

Covid-19. After German aid, clinical teams from Luxembourg and France arrive in Portugal

First they were German health professionals and now they will be doctors and nurses from Luxembourg and France to help their Portuguese colleagues. Portugal accepted help from these two countries and is preparing to receive clinical teams in two hospitals of the National Health Service.

The Luxembourg team consists of two doctors and two nurses and will support the Intensive Care Service of Hospital do Espírito Santo, in Évora. A doctor and three nursing professionals will also arrive from France to work at Hospital Garcia de Orta, in Almada.

The information was released in the late afternoon of Thursday by the Ministry of Health. “This assistance constitutes an important support for two hospitals that have been experiencing high pressure in terms of Intensive Care. Both teams must arrive in the week of February 15th, with a stay of 15 days. ”

Portugal Situation Report Wednesday 10th February 2021

Introduction

We thank those who responded to the Facebook post by my colleague Mike Evans on Saturday, concerning the work of Safe Communities Portugal. It reached around 18,000 people. We thought this was timely given the very large increase in people following our page, from around 17,000 a year ago to almost 40,000 now. People often visit Facebook pages not knowing anything about who is responsible for the page, and whether or not it is a credible source of information. In our case it is an entry point to our website and all the information gathered there over the last 9 years.

Some respondents appeared surprised by the diversity of our work – this being amply demonstrated in a period of just 3 hours on Monday this week, when we posted six urgent posts in around an hour covering; a landslip blocking a railway line; a small earthquake epicentre close to Portimão; the latest daily Covid-19 statistics; the 14 day Covid-19 averages by municipality; DGS announcement of creation of an on-line vaccine simulator and the ANEPC bad weather warning to the public.

As a qualified Civil Protection Volunteer Organisation, our role is not just to publish news reports or (copy and paste, news reports) the role of the media, but using our knowledge and experience, to explain these and provide our own comments where we can – and of course answer your questions. Most of our posts require some form of research beforehand and are possibly the culmination of many hours of work.

In this respect, although everyone is immersed in Covid-19 matters, it is important to pay attention to safety matters concerning weather warnings because these can affect life and property. So when you see these, particularly the ANEPC notifications, this means there is a risk and the advice should be shared and followed.

On Sunday we reported the words of Virologist Pedro Simas, who said that Portugal is experiencing an abrupt reduction in the number of new contagions, resulting from confinement, which could put the country among one of the best in the world to control the third wave of the pandemic.

Certainly this appears to be the case. Covid-19 cases are showing a welcomed downward trend namely; recoveries 3rd highest in one day since start of pandemic with six times new cases; new cases lowest since 28th December; number of active cases lowest since 15th January; those under surveillance lowest since 19th January and hospitalisations and ICU numbers decreasing – largest one day decrease in hospitalisations. Deaths on the other hand increased very slightly but second lowest since 18th January.

Also welcome is the fact that the estimated value for the average of the last five days analysed, between January 30th and February 3rd, is 0.82 for Rt (average number of people who each infected). It is a low value, which clearly indicates a reduction in incidence.

Yesterday the main focus was on the Infarmed meeting where government discussed with various experts the current situation concerning Covid-19 and various forecasts. At Safe Communities we followed this live and updated our Facebook page and site with a summary of the various briefings. Certainly there were some very interesting facts produced, with a clear indicator that the current level of confinement, with far less movement of people, is producing results, both in the reduction of cases and the pressure on the national health service (SNS). However, it is clear from what the Prime Minister said that there will be a need to prolong the general confinement currently in place.

Coupled with this yesterday was news that the first vaccination phase, which was due to end before March 31st, will be extended to April due to the “problem of vaccine availability”, announced the new co-ordinator for the vaccination plan against Covid-19.

This situation, explained Gouveia e Melo, who succeeded Francisco Ramos in office, is not a problem of administration, nor of the speed of administration, it is a logistical problem and a problem of the availability of vaccines upon arrival in Portugal and, therefore, of access to vaccines.

Yesterday, as part of the seventh renewal of the second State of Emergency, President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa started the hearings with the Political Parties with parliamentary representation, which took place by videoconference. This will continue today following which ,this evening, it is likely that he will send to the Assembly of the Republic, for its authorization, the draft diploma that renews the State of Emergency for fifteen days, until 1st March 2021, allowing the adoption of measures necessary to contain the spread of Covid-19 disease.

We therefore wait and see the measures that will be announced later this week following the Council of Ministers meeting tomorrow.

Have a Safe Day

Headlines

António Costa says it is necessary to prolong the confinement

The Prime Minister stated yesterday that the current confinement is producing results against Covid-19, but it is necessary to prolong it in view of the high levels of the pandemic and to continue to invest in massive testing and in the tracking capacity.

This position was transmitted by António Costa in his personal account on the social network Twitter, after another meeting at Infarmed, in Lisbon, on the evolution of the epidemiological situation in Portugal.

In relation to the results of this meeting, according to the Prime Minister, it could be “concluded that the current level of confinement is producing results, both in the reduction of cases, and in the pressure on the National Health Service and also in the limitation of the British variant circulation “.

“We also concluded that the greater the intensity of the confinement, the faster the results are; that the high levels of the pandemic require the prolongation of the current level of confinement and that it is necessary to continue to invest in massive testing and in the tracking capacity”, stressed the leader of the executive.

In his message, António Costa also mentioned that “the level of citizens’ confidence in the vaccine has been increasing”.

As long as the pharmaceutical industry continues to produce at the level now estimated, we will be able to achieve the goal of having 70% of the vaccinated adult population by the end of the summer,” he added.

Covid-19. WHO says virus unlikely to escape laboratory

An expert at the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that the new coronavirus is unlikely to have escaped from a Chinese laboratory, instead advocating the possibility of it being transmitted by an animal.

WHO food safety and animal disease expert, Peter Ben Embarek, summarised the research carried out by a team of Chinese scientists and WHO on the possible origins of the new coronavirus in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the first cases of Covid-19 were diagnosed.

The Wuhan Institute of Virology, one of China’s leading virus research laboratories, built an archive of genetic information about coronaviruses in bats after the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which emerged in the Asian country in 2003.

This led to claims that the Covid-19 could have left that facility, a theory promoted by former US former President Donald Trump.

Together with scientists from the institute, the WHO team, which includes specialists from 10 countries, visited hospitals, research institutes and the seafood market where the first cases were diagnosed.

“Our initial findings suggest that introduction, via an intermediate host species, is the most likely route, which will require more studies and more specific research,” said Embarek

The researchers said they had found no evidence of the presence of the virus in Wuhan before the first cases were diagnosed.

Covid-19

On Tuesday Portugal registered 203 more deaths and 2,583 new cases of Covid-19, according to the daily balance of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).

Taking into account recoveries, deaths and new cases, with 127,867 cases being active this Tuesday, down 12,777 compared to Monday.

As for hospital admissions, the DGS epidemiological bulletin reveals that 6,070 people are hospitalised in the infirmary, 274 fewer than the previous day, and 862 in intensive care, 15 less compared to Monday.

Health authorities have 171,554 contacts under surveillance, down 9,351 from yesterday.

Today’s data also reveals that an additional 15,157 people were reported to have recovered, bringing the number of recovered to 628,078 since the beginning of the pandemic in Portugal in March 2020.

Regarding the 203 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours, 115 occurred in Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, 34 in the Centro region, 35 in the North region, 16 in the Alentejo, one in the Algarve region, one in the Autonomous region of Madeira and one in the Azores.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Portugal has recorded a total of 14,557 deaths and 770,502 cases of infection with the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus

Health

Covid-19: 3,500 lives will be saved by the end of September if vaccination goes as planned

Lisbon, February 9th, 2021 (Lusa) – Epidemiologist Henrique Barros estimated yesterday that if the vaccination process against Covid-19 goes as planned, 3,500 lives will be saved by the end of September.

The estimates, which are based on two scenarios, were presented by the President of the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto at the meeting to analyse the epidemiological situation of Covid-19, which gathered, at Infarmed (Lisbon), with researchers, the Prime Minister, the President of the Republic, ministers, parties, employers’ confederations, union structures and state councillors.

The parameters used to think about the effect of vaccination are based on a model that considers general hospitalisations and hospitalisations in intensive care units and also vaccinations, assuming two hypotheses of vaccine efficacy: 90 or 70%.

“Assuming that 70% of the population will be vaccinated by the end of September, we have two different scenarios for the speed of vaccination,” he said.

One scenario assumes that two million people will be vaccinated by the end of April and the remaining five million by the end of September.

The other scenario is based on the fact that about four million people can be vaccinated by the end of April, which implies inoculating 4,000 people a day.

“Vaccination is assumed to be random, that is, we will not know whether the person has had an infection or not,” he said, adding that on the day the vaccination started, it was assumed that one million Portuguese people would have been infected and were immune.

Rt is 0.82 in Portugal

The estimated value for the average of the last five days analysed, between January 30th and February 3rd, is 0.82 for Rt (average number of people who each infected). “It is a low value, which clearly indicates a reduction in incidence,” says Baltazar Nunes, responsible for the Epidemiological Research Unit of the National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge (INSA).

The value is below 1 in all regions of the Mainland and in the Azores. Only in Madeira it is at 1.13, “which indicates a phase of growth”, says the expert.

Portugal is one of the countries with the greatest reduction in mobility in the EU

Contrary to what happened in the first weeks of January, Portugal is now one of the countries with the most marked reduction in mobility in the European Union, “in the order of 66%”, says Baltazar Nunes, an INSA epidemiologist.

The models indicate that it is necessary to maintain the confinement measures equivalent to March and April, with schools closed, for two months, in order to achieve lower levels of incidence and hospitalisations in intensive care.

“We need to maintain these measures for a period of two months to bring the number of beds in intensive care below 200 and the incidence to 14 days below 60 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants”, said Baltazar Nunes, from INSA.

There would have been 120 cases of the British variant, but “exponential growth” was avoided

João Paulo Gomes, from the National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, says that the British, Brazilian and South African variants have “a common mutation”, which makes them much more transmissible.

In Portugal, since the beginning of December, more than 200 thousand tests have been carried out, about 40 thousand positive. Of these, 9 thousand were of the British variant. The expert estimates that, between December 1st and February 7th, there were “more than 120 thousand” cases of this variant in Portugal.

However, he said there was “great news”: although it was predicted that, from January to February, the number of cases of this strain would rise from 8% to 65%, these are only about 16% of the total cases. In other words, “we have completely deviated” from these projections, moving from the possibility of “exponential growth” to a “plateau” situation.

Still, João Paulo Gomes expressed some concern about the new California variant, which he says may be more resistant to antibodies and seems to represent, for now, 6.8% of cases in Portugal. “We will be attentive”, he guaranteed.

Regarding behaviours, in the general sense there was a positive recovery after the parties.

On December 11th, about 35% of people admitted leaving home all or almost every day, on February 5th, only 15% of respondents said they admitted to leaving home.

Asked whether they kept two meters at a distance from other people when they left the house, 20% ticked ‘Sometimes/Never’ on 8th January, while only 13% chose this option on 5th February.

Regarding the question: “In the past two weeks, have you been in a group of ten or more people who do not live with you?” 20% of respondents answered affirmatively on December 25, while only 5% answered yes on February 5th.

Vaccinations

Late vaccines, first phase only ends in April. But in September 70% of the population will be vaccinated

Henrique Gouveia e Melo, co-ordinator of the Task Force for the Vaccination Plan, admits that “we are at a time of strangulation of vaccine availability”. Thus, there is a significant decrease in vaccines (compared to the contracted), expecting that we have 1.98 million doses applied in the first quarter – for the moment, the country has 60 thousand vaccines in reserve, for safety reasons to ensure that they are second doses are applied.

This is the state of play in relation to the priority plan: the elderly and most at risk population is 1.14 million, the state employees are 235 thousand people. But “with these two groups we will not be able to finish the first phase until March 31st, so we will extend it to April. It is not a problem of administration, nor logistical, it is access to vaccines”, said the military.

Now, the goal is “to finish the first phase in April. And with the vaccines available, we have 22,000 vaccines per day, which still does not require the solutions established within the NHS.”

In the second quarter it will be four times more. “And there will eventually be a need for faster vaccination solutions, despite the fact that the SNS still has the capacity to respond.” Only in the third quarter, with an even higher rate of vaccination, “it is certain that the extension to new processes of rapid vaccination posts will be one of the solutions. If the vaccines reach the expected rate, if we can do it in time – I think capacity for this – we should reach 70% of the population in late August, early September “, admitted the task force co-ordinator .

Ending with a commitment: “We must finish the entire population later this year, in December”.

Support measures for businesses and employment will continue as long as the pandemic lasts

The Minister of State and Finance, João Leão, underlined that the Government will keep supporting the economy in 2021, as it happened in 2020, in his presentation at the Parliament’s Budget and Finance Committee.

“On the Government side, we want to send a very strong message of support and commitment to companies and workers who see their activity conditioned by the pandemic: the guarantee that measures to support companies and employment will be maintained as long as the pandemic lasts and economic activity is conditioned, whatever the cost, ”he said.

João Leão pointed out that,, in view of the worsening of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government widened the layoff, created simplified support for micro-enterprises, expanded support for the progressive resumption, expanded the Apoiar program, which supports the breakdowns of small and medium-sized companies, and reactivated the first confinement support measures for self-employed workers, family support, etc.

Economy

Third wave of the pandemic is much more intense than expected”, says Finance Minister

“The third wave of the pandemic was much more intense than expected in Europe and in particular in Portugal and in the countries of southern Europe, more dependent on tourism”, stated Minister of Finance João Leão yesterday.

The minister pointed out that despite the 7.6% drop in GDP, the largest in 100 years, and the deficit forecasts, the economy resisted better than expected. “The deficit review represented 2.2 billion euros more than was expected,” said João Leão.

Employment developments have been better than anticipated, thanks to government support, the minister said. “The provisional unemployment rate for December is expected to be around 6.5% and 7% for the year as a whole,” he added. And despite the drop in GDP, the IRS still grew 3%.

For 2021, the minister stressed that the negative impact of the new confinement, especially in the sectors most affected “will have to lead to a significant revision of the macroeconomic scenario and an upward revision of the predicted deficit”. But he was confident of a “very intense recovery” in the second half of the year, counting, for this purpose, on vaccines, public investment programs, and the injection of 500 million euros by tax, among others.

“We are confident that 2021 will be a year of economic recovery due to this very intense recovery in the second half of this year,” he added. João Leão also admitted that he believes in the possibility of “reaching an economic recovery in 2022 to levels very similar to the pre-pandemic”.

Covid-19: GNR temporarily suspends 10 territorial posts in Castelo Branco

Castelo Branco, 09 Feb 2021 (Lusa) – GNR has temporarily suspended the operation of 10 territorial posts in the district of Castelo Branco due to the “exceptional situation that the country is going through”.

“The temporary suspension of the activity of some Territorial Posts, which already operated under a reduced attendance regime, was based on the particular and exceptional circumstances that the country is going through, in particular the restoration of control of land borders, a task with a strong commitment from the National Republican Guard “, explained the GNR to the Lusa agency.

In the area of the Castelo Branco Territorial Command, activity was temporarily suspended in 10 Reduced Service Points (PAR).

This exceptional and temporary measure covers the Territorial Forest Posts, Cebolais de Cima and Malpica do Tejo (Castelo Branco); Unhais da Serra and Paul (Covilhã), Soalheira (Fundão), Monsanto, Ladoeiro and Rosmaninhal (Idanha-a-Nova) and Cernache do Bonjardim (Sertã).

According to GNR, this measure allowed the temporary transfer of 43 military personnel to the Headquarters of Grouping.

“The Guard [GNR] considered operationally advantageous to adopt this temporary measure, which allows to allocate a greater number of military personnel for the operational service, namely for the control of the land border, stressing that it will only remain in force as long as it appears absolutely necessary, resuming normality as soon as possible “, he concludes.

Other news

EU / Presidency: Council and European Parliament provisional agreement on strengthening EU civil protection

The Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) and the representatives of the European Parliament reached a provisional agreement on Monday night on a proposal to strengthen the EU’s civil protection mechanism.

This proposal, according to an official communiqué from the EU Council, will allow the Union and the Member States “to be better prepared for natural and man-made disasters” and to “respond more quickly when they occur, including in cases affecting majority of Member States simultaneously”.

The new rules will enable the European Commission to “close gaps in the field of transport and logistics” and, in urgent cases, “to directly acquire certain additional capabilities of ‘rescEU’”, which, alongside the capabilities organised by Member States, will be “fully financed by the EU budget”.

The Portuguese Presidency of the Council and the representatives of the European Parliament reached a preliminary agreement after a meeting on Monday evening, February 8th, chaired by the Secretary of State for Internal Administration, Patrícia Gaspar.

In an official note sent to the press today, the Ministry of Internal Administration welcomes the previous agreement, highlighting Portugal as “one of the countries that boost development and strengthen the mechanism”.

The Minister of Home Affairs, Eduardo Cabrita, underlines that this mechanism is “an essential instrument of EU solidarity”, as it “provided vital support to Member States facing fires, earthquakes and other devastating disasters”.

In the words of Eduardo Cabrita, the Covid-19 pandemic has shown “the challenges faced when many Member States need support simultaneously” and, therefore, the new rules will allow them to be “even better prepared for similar situations in the future”.

Portugal Situation Report Saturday 6th February 2021

Introduction

Good morning – We start today with some positive Covid-19 statistics reported yesterday namely: since Thursday there were nearly five more recoveries than new cases; deaths, although higher than Thursday, were second lowest since 21st January; hospitalisations decreased again but not as much as the previous day and the number of active cases and those under surveillance were the lowest since 20th January. However, the number of patients in ICUs increased by 41 bringing the total to 904, a new maximum. So there are some signs of optimism, but the pressure of ICUs is of continuing concern.

The demand on the health services is considerable, so it was welcome news yesterday that an additional 2,300 beds are in now in place in the support centres as announced by the Minister of Internal Administration.

Another piece of positive news was the announcement of a mechanism being put in place for seeking the assistance of volunteers to support the SNS. We promoted this on our Facebook page on Wednesday reaching nearly 30 thousand people with many responses stating that they had done this, or were considering doing so. This in my view brings out all the best in voluntarism among the community. If you wish to do so please check the details through the link here

Some further good news is that that 15,000 firefighters and 20,000 members of the security forces will begin to be vaccinated against Covid-19 next week. This will be mainly those involved in front line operational duties who have regular contact with the public.

On the subject of vaccines, the Prime Minister’s message to the public yesterday was to, “wait serenely for your turn to be vaccinated”. The guarantee, on the other hand, is that everyone will be contacted to receive the vaccine against Covid-19.

“You don’t have to rush to the emergency room, go to the health centre or make phone calls,” said António Costa. “People will receive a message saying the time and place of the vaccination. They simply have to wait and they will be called in turn. Those who do not have a cell phone will receive a call or a letter,” he said.

It is important to understand that Portugal is dependent on the production of vaccines by the industry and that it is vital that this industry is able to increase production capacity. António Costa stressed that the pharmaceutical companies have already committed to fulfil this objective. The Prime Minister said that “we will only return to normal when we are all vaccinated or when at least 70% of people are vaccinated “.

So the message here is to be patient. I find it somewhat ironical just a few weeks ago that people were complaining that the vaccine development period had been rushed, but now that that they cannot obtain the vaccine soon enough! We all have to be patient and await our turn. There is little point comparing the roll out in one country with another, as the only difference as to when we receive the vaccine may be just a few weeks.

There have, over the last few days, been a number of reports of allegations against certain Mayors and other officials that they have been vaccinated where their position and medical condition does not allow for this under Phase One of the vaccination roll out plan. It is best to avoid speculation concerning this, other than to say that this is a serious matter and it is reported that the prosecution services are looking into this. We welcome the message therefore from the new coordinator, Vice Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo, of the vaccination plan against Covid-19 in Portugal who guaranteed on Wednesday, that he will tighten the rules and control the process.

It is pleasing to see that the effects of the current State of Emergency law, coupled with an increase in enforcement by the security forces, is clearly making a difference in terms of reduction in transmission. Clearly the closure of schools and the consequential reduction in movements has been a significant contributory factor. As such it is almost certain, without being speculative, that the current measures in force will be carried forward (as is almost certain) for a further period of 15 days with effect from 15th February.

Please have a Safe Day

Headlines

Austria’s support to fight the pandemic in Portugal

At the end of last week, following contacts at the highest level between Heads of Government, the Ministry of Health held bilateral contact, within the framework of European cooperation, with the Minister of Health of the Republic of Austria, with a view to supporting the combat the pandemic in Portugal.

In this context, the Austrian Government has provided capacity for the treatment of 10 intensive care patients in different hospitals in the country.

This option, of support that may be fundamental at a time when Portugal still faces high pressure on hospitals, was referred for consideration by the Monitoring Committee for the National Response in Intensive Care Medicine for Covid-19.

The Portuguese Government stresses that “they are important gestures of European solidarity, but symbolic in the battle of the pandemic. There were several offers, with all hypotheses being considered in order to continue to provide health care to the Portuguese”.

Covid-19

On Friday Portugal counts another 258 deaths and 6,916 new cases of Covid-19, according to the daily balance of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).

Taking into account the number of new cases, deaths and recoveries there are now 156,758 active cases 4,684 less than on Thursday.

The DGS epidemiological bulletin indicates there are 6,412 people in hospital 84 less than the previous day, and 904 in intensive care (a new maximum since the beginning of the pandemic), 41 more than yesterday.

Health authorities have 198,263 contacts under surveillance, 6,073 fewer than yesterday.

The bulletin also reveals that 11,342 more patients have recovered bring the total to 585,276.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Portugal has recorded 13,740 deaths and 755,774 cases of infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus,

Health

Covid-19. Third week of January had the most deaths since the start of the pandemic

More than 75 percent of deaths in Portugal between January 11th and 24th were from people over 75 years old, according to the INE in the bulletin on mortality

The third week of January this year was the one that registered the most deaths in Portugal since the beginning of the pandemic, released this Friday by the National Statistics Institute (INE), which recorded 4898 deaths in that period.

More than 75 percent of deaths in Portugal between January 11th and 24th were from people over 75 years old, according to the INE in the bulletin on mortality, which states that 24.3% of the 4530 deaths in the second week and 34, 6% of the 4,898 in the third week of January (18 to 24) were attributed to Covid-19.

The greatest excess of mortality was found among people aged 90 and over, with an increase of 87.9% in relation to the average for the same period calculated based on the last five years.

In the third week there was an excess of mortality (compared to the average for the same period in the last five years) of 70.9%, while in the second week it was 60.9%. Of this increase in the number of deaths in relation to the average, 64.4% in the second week and 83.3% in the third week were attributed to Covid-19.

In this period of the second and third weeks of January, 63.1% of the 9,428 people who died were admitted to hospitals. Three regions concentrated 82.6% of the total deaths: North (27.8%), Centre (27.2%) and Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (27.6%).

The highest number of deaths per 100,000 inhabitants occurred in Alentejo (140.5), Centro (115.7), Lisbon Metropolitan Area (90.9%) and Algarve (90.3).

The Effect of the Restrictions on Covid-19

Since the start of Covid-19 in Portugal, the Ricardo Jorge National Institute (INSA) has measured the R(t) in Portugal and recorded its evolution in all national regions.

From December 25th, the pace accelerated dramatically.

On January 7th, the government imposed new restrictions, which worsened three times: on January 13th, 18th and 21st, the date on which practically total new confinement was determined, including the closing of schools.

What effect did the measures have on the speed of transmission of the disease?

The measures of January 7th (which included the curfew across the national territory and extending to the high-risk municipalities the ban on driving on public roads after 1 pm) had an immediate effect to contain the damage felt since Christmas.

But new rules imposed on January 13th – which established the general duty of home collection, closing restaurants, closing culture or mandatory teleworking – and those of January 18th (banning circulation between municipalities, closing public spaces that are conducive to agglomerations) did not have the desired effect.

Only the closure of schools on January 21st and the closure of practically all non-essential activity, accompanied by an increase in fines for those who do not comply with the containment rules, had immediate consequences on the pace of transmission of Covid-19.

The effects of late December 2020 and early 2021, however, continue to be felt. On January 28th, there was a peak in daily cases, with a new maximum of 303 deaths, repeated on January 31st.

But since then, the indicators of new cases and deaths have been improving, probably as a result of the new confinement.

Covid-19: Santa Maria Hospital has 60 patients admitted to intensive care

The Hospital de Santa Maria, in Lisbon, has 395 patients with Covid-19, of whom 60 are hospitalized in intensive care, the President of the Board of Directors of the hospital said to Lusa agency today.

“The remaining patients [335] are hospitalized in the infirmary and in the emergency room, waiting to go up to the floors”, Daniel Ferro told Lusa.

The chairman of the Board of Directors of the Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte, which is part of the Santa Maria Hospital, said that the average number of patients hospitalized daily in that unit is 25 and, “more and more, of lower age groups”.

“The notion that we have in this second phase is that people in the lower age groups have been affected and, in general, the severity is also greater”, he stressed.

Asked by Lusa about the possible lack of beds and means, the administrator pointed to the “enormous pressure” that Santa Maria is subjected to, with the daily arrival of many patients, stressing that the hospital unit “is at the limit”.

“We are currently the hospital that has the most patients. We have received patients from other hospitals who sometimes suspend the reception of patients in an emergency. All of this makes the pressure great and that, as the needs exist, we are opening wards and that is what we have been doing and that is what we will do at this time”, he assured.

Despite this “limit” situation, Daniel Ferro appealed to the tranquillity of the Portuguese and guaranteed that “until now, no one has stopped being treated and receiving the care he needs”, given the “quality and professionalism of health professionals”.

Outbreak at Casa do Artista with 42 infected: half are users

The number infected in the outbreak of Covid-19 at Casa do Artista, in Lisbon, is 42 people, half of whom are users and, of these, ten are hospitalized, a source from the Regional Health Administration (ARS) told Lusa this Friday. Lisbon and Tagus Valley.

According to the same source, among the residents of Casa do Artista there are “21 active cases, eleven of which are in the institution, duly separated from the negative ones, and 10 are hospitalized”. In addition, there are 21 active cases among employees, who are “fulfilling isolation in their homes”.

According to the same source, since the beginning of the outbreak, during the month of January, six deaths have been registered at Casa do Artista.

To Lusa, ARS Lisboa e Vale do Tejo stressed that, “as usual, the local health authority, in conjunction with the direction of Casa do Artista, determined the Public Health measures appropriate to the situation according to DGS guidelines [Directorate-General for Health], such as the evaluation and activation of the contingency plan, testing, confinement of positive cases and separation of positive and negative”

Covid-19. Security forces and firefighters start vaccination next week

The Minister of Internal Administration, Eduardo Cabrita, said this Friday that 15,000 firefighters and 20,000 members of the security forces will begin to be vaccinated against the Covid-19 next week.

“Next week, the vaccination of essential functions of the State will begin, it would highlight the firefighters, about 15 thousand and about 20 thousand elements of the security forces [PSP and GNR]”, said Eduardo Cabrita.

The minister spoke to journalists in Castelo Branco, where he travelled to preside over the signing ceremony of the protocol between the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection (ANEPC) and MOVIJOVEM – Youth Mobility, for the operation of five Rear Support Structures (EAR) in youth hostels.

The Minister of Home Affairs explained that not all elements of the security forces will now receive the vaccine against Covid-19.

“It is not all staff. They are those who, primarily, are assigned to operational activities, from the surveillance of people in prophylactic isolation, to the guarantee of respect for the rules of the state of emergency or the disinfections that have been made by GNR”, he concluded.

Support centres provide 2300 beds

The national network of reserve support centres has been reinforced with five more centres in youth hostels and currently integrates about 2,300 beds distributed throughout the country.

“What we do today is yet another example of the timely response that aims to support those who must respond [to the pandemic], health and social security. These centres, since November, have allowed us to create a network that today is present in all districts of the country “, said, this Friday, the Minister of Internal Administration, in Castelo Branco, where he chaired the signing ceremony of the protocol between the National Authority for Emergency and Civil Protection (ANEPC) and Movijovem – Youth Mobility, for the operation of five Rear Support Structures (EAR) in youth hostels.

“These centres have a national capacity to accommodate 2,300 people and are designed to receive Covid patients who no longer require hospitalization,” he explained.

The minister also underlined that the EARs allow beds to be released in hospitals, receiving people who are not yet in a position to go to their homes or homes.

“There are 212 people installed in these centres, that is, about 10% of the installed capacity. This is an action that has involved these three areas, civil protection, social action and health. There is also a great connection to the local authorities”, he stressed.

During the signing ceremony of the protocols, the Secretary of State for Youth and regional coordinator of the fight against the pandemic in the centre of the country, João Paulo Rebelo, explained that there are 401 beds in Rear Support Structures in this region

Vaccination: By SMS, phone call or letter, your turn will come. It is the guarantee of António Costa to the Portuguese

The message is to “wait serenely for your turn to be vaccinated”. The guarantee, on the other hand, is that everyone will be contacted to receive the vaccine against Covid-19.

“You don’t have to rush to the emergency room, go to the health centre or make phone calls,” said António Costa. “People will receive a message saying the time and place of the vaccination. They simply have to wait and they will be called in turn. Those who do not have a cell phone will receive a call or a letter,” he said.

The Prime Minister was speaking to journalists after a visit to the private hospital CUF Tejo, where he was accompanied by the Minister of Health, Marta Temido.

Stressing that Portugal is “dependent on the production [of vaccines] by the industry” and that “it is important that this industry is able to increase production capacity”, the prime minister recalled that “we will only return to normal when we are all vaccinated or when at least 70% of people are vaccinated “.

“This is the fight we are doing,” he reiterated.

Covid-19. Ten deputies and 24 officials have been infected since March 2020

Since 10th December, the Assembly of the Republic has carried out 1029 tests on deputies, parliamentary employees, collaborators and party advisers.

At the moment when vaccination against Covid-19 will start, the Assembly of the Republic registered ten cases of infection of deputies and 24 of parliamentary employees since March last year, according to the general secretary. Last week, ten deputies were in isolation, but the number varies over time – in the previous week there were only two. As for the number of tests, 1,029 have been carried out since the beginning of December, of which only nine were positive.

People from all areas of Parliament’s operation are covered: deputies (258 tests were carried out, which means that some of the 230 have already repeated); parliamentary officials (362 tests); members of parliamentary groups (227, as advisers and lawyers); security forces (PSP and GNR who serve in the palace, 35); employees of companies that provide services there, such as the bar, cleaning and maintenance (139); and also journalists (8). Under the prerogative of the State of Emergency, which determines that companies and other entities can demand tests from employees and those who frequent the space, the target names for testing are warned in the previous days.

The idea is to reach people from all organic units and from all spaces and services, specifies João Amaral, director of the communication office, including those that the Assembly has in other buildings in the immediate vicinity and where parliamentary divisions or entities like UTAO operate. Despite the nine positive tests (only two were officials), services have not yet closed in Parliament.

Costa praises the mobilization of the private and social health sectors to fight the epidemic

“For the pandemic to be eradicated, it must be eradicated in the European Union and on a global scale, which is a huge effort”, underlined the prime minister.

The Prime Minister also underlined that to speed up the vaccination process, the industry has to increase the vaccine production capacity. António Costa stressed that the pharmaceutical companies have already committed to fulfil this objective.

For the head of government, it is essential to vaccinate the majority of the population in order to return to normality: “We will only return to normality in our lives when we are all vaccinated or, at least, 70% of the population, reaching group immunity”.

“It is essential that each one waits serenely for his or her turn to be vaccinated”, he recalled with the indication that the call for the vaccine will arrive via SMS or letter.

The Prime Minister also said today that one thing is the turmoil of political debate and another is reality, praising the joint work of the National Health Service and the private and social sectors in combating Covid-19.

“I want to leave a word of thanks here, because one thing is the turmoil of political debate and another thing is reality. Since March we have been in contact, we have worked together, and the National Health Service (SNS) and private hospitals and of the social sector, or of the Armed Forces, have been mobilized whenever necessary to respond to this pandemic situation “, maintained the leader of the executive.

Covid-19: Government will not give point tolerance (official day off) on Tuesday of Carnival

The Government will not give an official day of for workers on Carnival Tuesday, the 16th, because the country is in general confinement due to the Covid-19, without public festivities, Lusa source told the agency executive officer.

“Point tolerance (official day off) aims to allow people to participate in festivities and celebrations that this year will not exist in view of the country’s current context,” said the same government source.

Next week, the State of Emergency in Portugal should be renewed for another 15 days, extending until March 1st, and everything indicates that the general duty of retention and the closure of a wide range of activities to contain the spread of the new coronavirus.

On the other hand, according to the Government, on the 16th, distance learning should be underway in a period that is usually of academic interruption.

Since António Costa is prime minister, this will be the first time that there will be no point tolerance on Tuesday of Carnival.

The current general confinement in Portugal has been in place since the 15th and the State of Emergency since November 9th.

Covid-19: More than half of schools reported cases of infection

More than half of the country’s public schools have registered at least one case of infection by Covid-19, according to data from the Ministry of Education released today by Fenprof, which refer to situations in almost three thousand educational establishments.

Since the beginning of the school year, “2,933 public schools on the continent, which do not include higher education”, have reported cases of infection among its population, according to information from the Ministry of Education handed over to Fenprof following a sentence handed down by the Administrative Court of Círculo of Lisbon.

The data arrived at Fenprof after the federation appealed to the court, which forced the tutelage to give this information.

The National Federation of Teachers points out that there are 5,568 educational establishments on the continent, “which means that there have been cases of infection in more than half of them”.

Despite the identification of educational establishments, there is no information on how many cases were registered in each school, despite having been requested by the federation.

Without these data, it is not possible to quantify how many outbreaks there were, but Fenprof concludes that the figures released today indicate that the number “outbreaks was well above just a few dozen, as was repeated by the Directorate-General for Health”.

Portugal Situation Report Wednesday 3rd February 2021

Introduction

We start the day with a sad note and that is the death of Captain Sir Tom Moore, who died yesterday aged 100 years with coronavirus. Sir Tom, who raised almost £33m for the NHS, was taken to Bedford Hospital after requiring help with his breathing on Sunday.

His daughter Hannah Ingram-Moore said he had been treated for pneumonia over the past few weeks and last week tested positive for Covid-19. The Army veteran won the nation’s hearts by walking 100 laps of his garden before his 100th birthday.

We covered Sir Tom’s walk at the time through our morning reports on Facebook. We send our condolences to his family and many friends. A real hero and legend who will be remembered as an inspiration to us all.

On a happier note we start the day with some positive news; namely the latest Covid-19 figures from yesterday. These showed the following trends: largest number of recoveries in one day since start of pandemic; daily new confirmed cases were the lowest since 11th January; number of total of people hospitalised and in ICU both decreased; deaths were still high but lowest in 8 days; active cases showed the largest daily decrease to date and both number of people hospitalised and in ICU decreased compared with Monday.

This could be early signs of the lockdown working, but we still need to take into account at the weekend as far as new cases are concerned. However, these are welcome signs. Now is certainly not the time to let our guard down and it is very important to ensure compliance with all the measures in place especially social distancing, hygiene and face masks.

Importantly, for those who are in Phase One of the vaccination plan who are registered with your Centro de Saúde but use a private doctor, now is the time to ensure your health records are up to date on the SMS system

Advice has been circulated to some in the foreign community to visit your private doctor obtain a letter and take it with you to the Centro de Saúde. Not unsurprisingly, some who have tried this have encountered various difficulties, because it is not an official process and also due to language communication problems in some instances.

Safe Communities approached the Director Regional Health service ARS Algarve concerning this issue in December last year to enquire about the progress that would be put in place for Phase One of the plan. Once the system had been formulated they replied last week and were able to help us explain this. The process can be downloaded here

It is important to note that this is only for those registered with the SNS, but are using private doctors instead; not those who use their Centro de Saúde as they will already have your up to date records.

Those registered with their Centro de Saúde will be contacted through SMS ahead of the vaccination. SNS reiterate not to contact your Centro de Saúde asking when you will be vaccinated – you will be informed through SMS.

Concerning fake news and misinformation on social media, we regularly read comments from ‘instant experts’ that can only have “graduated from the University of Facebook” as one of our followers put it. People are of course entitled to their opinions, but during a health crisis such comments often using dubious and unproven “so called scientific studies” could cost lives. Where we have seen these ourselves we have reported to Facebook and extreme cases other appropriate authorities.

Since fake news has the ultimate goal of manipulating public opinion, it provokes an emotional response in the reader and, therefore, it can provoke feelings of anger, distrust, anxiety and even depressive symptoms, distorting the perception of reality. Recent research points to the constant consumption of news information, especially when it comes from less credible sources, as an important explanatory factor of concern.

I have written an article on this subject which will appear in the Algarve Resident tomorrow.

Dealing with these sorts of comments places demands on our admin staff on Facebook and I am pleased therefore that Lucy Gable who has spent 25 years as a doctor in E &A has come onto the team. Thank you Lucy.

For those of you who receive our newsletter, our apologies that yesterday our issue contained an incorrect link regarding the updating of SNS records. We spotted this and the correct version was sent out within the hour.

This mornings report takes a team of four of us around 10 hours to produce and upload onto the website. We have produced around 200 editions since February 2020, providing an overview of the main news over the last day or so. By doing this it avoids numerous reports on our Facebook page throughout the day, concentrating more on topics where we need to communicate key information including those where you may need to take some form of action.

We hope you have a Safe Day.

Headlines

EU / Presidency: Costa and Von der Leyen call for European industry to be mobilized for vaccine production

The Portuguese Prime Minister and the President of the European Commission have written to European leaders to involve the industry in order to increase the capacity to produce Covid-19 vaccines and to prepare against new strains of the coronavirus.

“I wrote, with President Ursula von der Leyen, to the European Union Heads of State and Government to underline the importance of combining efforts and involving the industry to increase the production capacity and supply of vaccines in the European Union,” António Costa revealed today in his personal account on the social network Twitter.

In the same message, António Costa said that he and Ursula von der Leyen also warned European heads of state and government that it is “essential to support Commission initiatives already underway” so that Member States are “prepared in the face of possible new strains of this virus and future public health risks “.

On Tuesday, the Portuguese Prime Minister met with the executive president of the pharmaceutical multinational Astrazeneca, having received guarantees to reinforce the production capacity of vaccines against Covid-19 to meet the delivery schedule in the European Union.

In that meeting with Pascal Soriot, AstraZeneca’s global CEO, according to António Costa, this multinational “reiterated its commitment” to “strengthen its production capacity in Europe, in order to meet the schedule of vaccine deliveries to the European Union”.

“Every day of delay in the vaccination process is a lost day and there are lives that are put at risk,” noted the leader of the Portuguese executive.

According to the Prime Minister of Portugal, a country currently presiding over the Council of the European Union, “AstraZeneca will supply the European Union with nine million additional doses of its anti-covid vaccine, for a total of 40 million doses in the first quarter, an increase of 30% over the company’s previous proposal “.

The Prime Minister added that he continues “to work together with the European Commission, in this which is another step in the long marathon for the protection of the life and health of Europeans”.

Covid-19

On Tuesday Portugal registered 260 deaths and 5,540 new cases of Covid-19, according to the daily balance of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).

The bulletin states that 17,572 people recovered bringing the total to, 551,956.

The total number of active cases is now 166,888, down 12,292 compared to Monday.

As for hospital admissions, the DGS epidemiological bulletin reveals that 6,775 people are in hospital, 94 less than the previous day, and 852 in intensive care, 13 less.

Health authorities have 215,536 contacts under surveillance, 4,817 fewer than yesterday.

Regarding the 260 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours, 116 occurred in Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, 55 in the Centro region, 65 in the North region, 17 in Alentejo and 7 in the Algarve region.

Confirmed cases are distributed across all age groups, with the highest number of infections between 20 and 59 years of age.

The new coronavirus has already infected at least 330,550 men and 401,081 women in Portugal, according to DGS data, according to which there are 230 cases of unknown sex, which are under investigation, since this data is not provided automatically.

Of the total fatalities, 6,789 were men and 6,228 women.

The largest number of deaths continues to be concentrated in the elderly over 80 years old, followed by the age group between 70 and 79 years old.

Of the total of 13,017 deaths, 8,763 were people over 80 years old, 2,661 aged between 70 and 79 years old and 1,103 were between 60 and 69 years old.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Portugal has recorded 13,017 deaths and 731,861 cases of infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus

Health

German delegation is led by the chief of the medical staff

German support for Portugal in the most acute phase of the Covid-19 pandemic promised by Chancellor Angela Merkel to Prime Minister António Costa arrives today, at 1 pm, at Figo Maduro Airport, in Lisbon. The PUBLICO newspaper reported that this delegation is led by the chief of staff of the medical branch, who, however, will return shortly afterwards to Germany. The teams consist of 26 military personnel and comprised of eight doctors and 18 nurses, most of whom specialize in Intensive Care, in addition to the logistics sector.

This was the decision after the visit made last Wednesday by a German delegation that surveyed the needs in Porto and in the area of the Regional Health Administration of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, specifically at the Amadora-Sintra hospital, where, in principle, this action will focus on it. This is the area in which, currently, the rates of infected are greater and the one in which hospitals are under greater pressure

The German military carries a variety of materials, including 50 fans, pumps and infusion syringes. Its presence in Portugal is estimated at three weeks and may be extended if the evolution of the pandemic so warrants.

The confirmation of the arrival of the German military team was made by the German Minister of Defence, ahead of a joint statement on Monday evening, by the Ministries of National Defence and Health – shortly after Marta Temido Minister of Health, in a press conference, had stated that nothing was yet decided.

PGR investigates nine cases of vaccination of non-priority people

The Public Prosecutor’s Office has already decided to initiate inquiries in relation to some of the cases made public, first of all those relating to Social Security in Setúbal, INEM in Lisbon, INEM in Porto and facts also reported in Portimão (Support Center of Seniors), Vila Nova de Famalicão, Arcos de Valdevez, Bragança, Seixal and Montijo . This information was given to Expresso by the Attorney General’s Office.

On Thursday, the National Association for Emergency and Civil Protection denounced vaccination to non-priority professionals at the National Institute for Medical Emergency (INEM). In a statement, INEM denied asking health authorities for more doses of the vaccine than were needed to vaccinate priority workers. After the accusations of giving the vaccine to non-priority employees, INEM guarantees that in these cases only leftovers were used.

Vaccines

China arrests over 80 suspected of selling fake vaccines

China has arrested more than 80 people suspected of involvement in a scheme to sell fake vaccines against Covid-19, which has been in operation since September last year, the official press reported today.

The state-run Global Times newspaper reported that Chinese authorities also seized 3,000 doses of the fake antigen during the operation.

According to the same source, the criminal network was present in several cities and the operation was carried out jointly by the security forces of Beijing and the provinces of Jiangsu and Shandong, on the northern coast of China.

Cited by the newspaper, vaccine specialist Tao Lina said that “the ‘vaccines’, filled with saline, have no effect, but they also do not cause health problems, so it is clear that the suspects wanted money”.

Other sources cited by the Global Times argued that the chain could be involved in marketing these fake vaccines abroad.

On January 28th, Chinese pharmaceutical Sinovac, which developed one of the vaccines in the Asian country, published a statement in which it warned that some “companies and individuals” had falsified and used company authorization documents to try to act as “distributors of the CoronaVac vaccine against Covid-19 and other vaccination products in markets outside China “.

President of the Assembly of the Republic wants working group to coordinate vaccination in parliament

The President of the Assembly of the Republic yesterday suggested the setting up of a working group to monitor the vaccination process against Covid-19 in parliament, until reaching all the deputies who want to be vaccinated.

This position was conveyed by Ferro Rodrigues in a statement, in which he also referred to the process of vaccination of officials of the Assembly of the Republic “considered indispensable to guarantee the effective functioning of this sovereign body”.

“The President of the Assembly of the Republic considers it most useful to set up a working group to monitor the process that is now beginning and that will continue, on a scheduled basis, until it reaches all the deputies who want to be vaccinated, as well as the officials considered indispensable for guarantee the effective functioning of this sovereign body, reviewing the advanced proposals, on which the conference of leaders will address, in a meeting that will be convened when justified “.

In the statement, Ferro Rodrigues states that the vaccination process “started with the responses to the request of the Prime Minister [António Costa] is being developed, contemplating the observations and proposals that have been sent to the President of the Assembly of the Republic in recent days”.

According to Ferro Rodrigues, after the meeting of the leaders’ conference last Thursday, the criteria for the letter to be sent were defined – precedence of the State Protocol and members of the Permanent Commission, and with a subsequent suggestion to the parliamentary leaders of nomination based on age or health status “.

Director of the Pharmacy Service at Penafiel Hospital fired after vaccine accident

The director of the Pharmacy Service at the Centro Hospitalar do Tâmega (CHTS) has been fired following last week when there was a failure to use the refrigeration system, which damaged 130 vials of vaccines against Covid-19, which would have been used to vaccinate about 600 professionals.

At the time of the incident, the CHTS Board of Directors opened an “inquiry process” to ascertain responsibilities and evaluate submitting a criminal case.

The batch with hundreds of vaccines against Covid-19, which was to be administered to professionals at the Centro Hospitalar do Tâmega e Sousa (CHTS), in Penafiel, was damaged during the night from Monday to Tuesday of the last week, making it impossible to use it.

At the time, a source from the CHTS Board of Directors said that everything indicated that the failure was “associated with an inadequate use of the hospital’s pharmacy refrigeration system”. The vaccines in question, 130 bottles that would give 600 doses, would be used to vaccinate health professionals.

Covid-19. Five patients transferred from Beja Hospital to the Air Force reception centre

Also according to the above report, the Armed Forces provided the SNS and the Ministry of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security with a total of 12 reception centres for patients. The centres operate in military units from the three branches of the Armed Forces (Army, Air Force and Navy) in mainland Portugal and in the autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores.

With 68 beds, the centre, provided as a back-up support structure, provides accommodation and meals for patients, being supplied and managed by personnel from the National Health Service, Social Security and Civil Protection

The reception centre at Air Base No. 11, in Beja, received on Monday afternoon five patients infected with the virus that causes the Covid-19 disease. According to a note from the General Staff of the Armed Forces (EMGFA), the patients came from the José Joaquim Fernandes Hospital in that city of Baixo Alentejo.

Patients were welcomed following a request from the National Emergency and Civil Protection Authority (ANEPC) to EMGFA.

Economy

The Minister of State, Economy and Digital Transition, Pedro Siza Vieira, made a statement on the data on the evolution of the Portuguese economy last year, after the publication of the quick estimate by INE.

The Minister pointed out that, “in the last quarter of 2020, the Portuguese economy grew 0.4% compared to the previous quarter”.

The Office of the Minister of State and Finance issued a statement in which it states that “economic activity performed better than previously expected in the second half of the year, with a 5.1% growth compared to the first half”.

Minister Siza Vieira said that “in the year as a whole, there was a very significant drop (7.6%) compared to 2019, but much less drastic than was expected by all institutions and that Government’s projections” is (8. 5%) in the State Budget for 2021.

This sharp drop was felt across the Eurozone, particularly affecting countries where the tourism sector has the greatest weight, such as Spain (11%), Italy (8.8%) and France (8.3%), and 6.8% for the single currency economies as a whole.

Pfizer expects sales of their vaccine to reach $ 15 billion by 2021

The American pharmaceutical group Pfizer said today that it expects sales of the vaccine against Covid-19 that it developed in partnership with the German BioNTech to reach about 15 billion dollars in the year of 2021.

This sum, equivalent to 12,457 million euros, may increase if the laboratory signs additional contracts.

Pfizer, which reported quarterly results today, has already sold vaccines worth $ 154 million in the fourth quarter after the product was authorized in several countries in late 2020.

The drug maker revised upwards its adjusted earnings per share estimate it made in early January, from $ 3.00 to $ 3.10 to $ 3.10 to $ 3.20.

The total turnover in 2021 is expected to reach 59.4 to 61.4 billion dollars, which will correspond to an increase between 42% and 47%.

These predictions, underlines Pfizer, are based on the hypothesis of “a continuous recovery of macroeconomic activity and health throughout 2021 as populations are vaccinated against Covid-19”.

In the fourth quarter of 2020, Pfizer’s turnover increased by 12% to $ 11.7 billion. It was driven by the increase in sales of treatments against various types of cancer (+ 23%) and by the group of vaccines in the group (+ 17%).

The laboratory, which had recorded losses of $ 333 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, spent in the same period in 2020 achieving a net profit of $ 534 million (about 433 million euros).

Throughout the year, the group’s turnover increased 2% to $ 41,900 million and net profit fell 41% to $ 9,600 million.

Other news

Almost all river basins recorded increases in the amount of water stored

Eleven hydrographic basins registered, in January, increases in the amount of water stored, registering only a decrease in Mondego compared to the previous month, according to data from the National Water Resources Information System (SNIRH).

The decline, in the Mondego basin, “is associated with flood management”, says the bulletin referring to water availability recorded on 31 January.

According to SNIRH data, of the 60 monitored reservoirs, 25 (eight more than in the previous month) had water availability greater than 80% of the total volume at the end of the month and 12 (two less than in December) recorded lower availability and 40%.

Despite the rise registered at the end of January, only the Lima, Cávado, Ave, Douro and Tejo basins have total storage values above historical average values.

All other basins, according to SNIRH data, are below historical storage values for this time of year, namely the Mira, Guadiana and Barlavento basins.

The Ribeiras do Barlavento basin had the lowest water availability at the end of January, with 21.8%.

Following the Mira (43.4%), Sado (52.8%), Arade (55.8%), West (59.5%), Lima (64.6%), and Mondego (57.3%), among those with the lowest amount of water.

According to SNIRH data, at the end of January, the basin with the highest level of storage was that of the Douro (82.9%), followed by that of Cávado (75.4%), Guadiana (67.9%) and Mondego (67.2%).

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