Year: 2020

The period of greatest operational commitment of the means of the Special Rural Fire Fighting Device (DECIR) for 2020 ended on September 30, in what was the third consecutive year with results below the average of the last decade, in number of ignitions and area burned.

Comparing the data from 2020 with the history of the previous 10 years, there were 47% less rural fires and 38% less burnt area. This is the first time since 2009 that three consecutive years have taken place with a reduction in these indicators related to rural fires.

Thus, and according to the Provisional Report on Rural Fires of the Institute for the Conservation of Nature and Forests (ICNF), this year it presents, until September 30, the 2nd lowest value in number of fires and the 5th lowest value of burnt area since 2010.
In total, 8,968 rural fires were recorded, up to September 30, when the average between 2010 and 2019 was 16,873 fires.

The burnt area, in the same period, was 64,972 hectares, when the average of the last decade was 104,109 hectares.

Since July 1, 11,825 operational personnel, 2,749 teams, 2,654 vehicles and 60 air vehicles have been engaged in DECIR Level IV.

Until the 15th of October, Level III will be in effect, with 9,804 operational personnel, 2,277 teams, 2,154 vehicles, maintaining the 60 aerial means. The National Network of Watchtowers will also maintain the 230 active posts until October 15th.

Until the 15th of October, Level III will be in effect, with 9,804 operational personnel, 2,277 teams, 2,154 vehicles, maintaining the 60 aerial means. The National Network of Watchtowers will also maintain the 230 active posts until October 15th.

It should be remembered that, despite the definition of the various levels of commitment of resources throughout the year, the Directive establishing the DECIR provides for operational flexibility, and the device can be strengthened if the weather conditions recommend it.

The impact of climate change on the phenomenon of fires is, moreover, one of the aspects that the Government will take into account when assessing the results of 2020. It is noteworthy that 86% of the fires have a burnt area of ​​less than 1 hectare. However, this year there were 11 fires with a burnt area of ​​more than 1,000 hectares, which leads to the need to reinforce the priority given to the reform of the forest, the cleaning of the land around the houses and villages and the awareness of the populations to the need to avoid risky behaviors such as the use of machinery or burning and burning on risky days.

 

Although in the past 3 years there have been no fatalities among civilians to mourn, the Government is concerned with the tragic events that led to the deaths of five firefighters and one pilot. In this regard, special attention will be paid to matters related to the safety of the operational staff members of the device.

 

Part of the group of undocumented migrants who landed in the Algarve in September fled this morning from the army headquarters of Tavira, where they were waiting for their removal from the country, said a source from the Foreigners and Borders Service ( SEF).

At stake are, according to the SEF, 17 of the 28 members of the group that landed on the Deserta island, in Faro, and which was later, by court order, placed in the custody of the SEF until their removal from Portugal due to irregular entry into the country.

The group also included three women, one pregnant, and a minor, but only the 24 men in the group were in the barracks of the Army’s No. 1 Infantry Regiment in Tavira, SEF said in a statement.

“The Foreigners and Borders Service confirms the escape, this morning, of 17 of the 24 foreign citizens installed in the Barracks of the Infantry Regiment no. 1 of the Detachment of Tavira, where they were doing the prophylactic quarantine, after two of them accused positive à covid-19 ”, the note reads.

The same source added that “the police authorities have already located two citizens, one of whom was transported to Faro Hospital, after being injured in one foot during the escape, and the other is in the PSP facilities in Tavira”.

In addition to the 24 men installed in the Tavira barracks, the three women who were part of the group “were installed in the Santo António Housing Unit, in Porto”, while the “minor was handed over to the Family and Minors Court in Faro”, clarified the SEF.

“All the necessary mechanisms have already been put in place on the ground to locate the citizens concerned, in conjunction with the other national and Spanish criminal police bodies,” said the service that oversees the stay of foreigners in Portugal.

Migrants from North Africa were intercepted on the island of Deserta on September 16 and were later heard in the Faro Judicial Court for irregular entry and stay in national territory, and their removal from national territory was applied as a precautionary measure.

The vessel on which the 28 migrants arrived on the island is about seven meters long and is similar to those used in the other five illegal landings registered in the region since December.

More than half of the Portuguese (57%) believe that the pandemic has hampered their access to healthcare, with the elderly population (69%) and the chronically ill (70%) the most experiencing this difficulty, reveals a study released today.

The data from the study “Access to health care in times of pandemic”, carried out by GFK Metris and presented today at the Ordem dos Médicos, state that this situation is the result of “an effective experience”: 692 thousand Portuguese did not attend the medical consultations marked.

“Almost all of the missed consultations were canceled by the health units”, says the study promoted by the “Movimento Saúde em Dia – Don’t Mask Your Health”, an initiative of the Portuguese Association of Hospital Administrators (APAH) and the Ordem dos Médicos (OM).

The study aimed to listen to the opinions and capture the perceptions of the Portuguese about the covid-19 pandemic and its impact on access to health care, having been carried out based on face-to-face questionnaires, between August 28 and September 7, with a sample representative of the Portuguese population, consisting of more than 1,000 people over 18 years of age residing in Mainland Portugal.

According to the survey, about two million Portuguese had a medical act scheduled during the pandemic (March to August), the majority (89%) consultations, while 23% had exams, 5% had scheduled surgery and 3% hospitalization.

“Although the majority of the 664 thousand Portuguese who felt sick during the pandemic – 454 thousand, that is, 69% – resorted to health care, three out of 10 (210 thousand or 31%) did not do it”, refer the study authors in a statement.

About 40% of respondents say that they would certainly use health care during the pandemic in case of need, 35% say that they would only resort if the situation was serious and more than 22% said they “would probably resort”.

Half of the participants report that they feel safe and comfortable in accessing health care. Whoever feels insecure, points out the fear of contagion as the main reason to avoid going to the doctor.

The study also wanted to understand how the Portuguese accepted telemedicine, having concluded that 775 thousand had a medical consultation by this means, with 90% doing it.

“However, in 95% of these cases the consultations were made by telephone, not constituting an effective telemedicine consultation – less than 5% of these teleconsultations involved image transmission”, points out the study.

He also stresses that, “although the experience was considered very satisfactory, the truth is that two thirds would not like to have this solution again under any circumstances or only in very exceptional cases”.

For another third, teleconsultation could only be an option in some consultations. Only 2% of people would like to maintain teleconsultation on all or almost all occasions.

The Saúde em Dia Movement was launched in early September by OM and APAH, in partnership with Roche, with the aim of alerting the population to “the importance of being attentive to symptoms and signs that need medical observation, but without forgetting also the rules already known to fight the pandemic ”.

The president of the European Commission guarantees that “the European Union is in solidarity with Portugal” in the face of the crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic, as shown by the fact that the country is one of the important beneficiaries of the Recovery Fund.

In an interview with the Lusa agency on the eve of her first official visit to Portugal as president of the Community Executive, Ursula von der Leyen states that “Portuguese citizens have fought in a very courageous and disciplined manner against the virus and have even been more successful than others”, and can count on the support of the EU, which will also help to “boost” the recovery of the national economy.

“The European Union will ensure that the Portuguese people, European citizens and people around the world have access to a future vaccine. And the EU will also be on the side of the Portuguese in recovering from the economic crisis”, guarantees the President of the Commission.

Maintaining that NextGenerationEU, the recovery fund proposed by its Executive and agreed by European leaders at a long summit in July, gives Europe “the opportunity not only to repair the damage and recover from the current situation, but to shape a better way of life”, Von der Leyen points out that“ Portugal will be an important beneficiary ”.

According to the commitment reached in July, Portugal will receive 15.3 billion euros in grants (non-repayable), including 13.2 billion euros, by 2023, through the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, the main instrument of the Recovery Fund.

The president of the European Commission guarantees that “the European Union is in solidarity with Portugal” in the face of the crisis caused by the covid-19 pandemic, as shown by the fact that the country is one of the important beneficiaries of the Recovery Fund.

In an interview with the Lusa agency on the eve of her first official visit to Portugal as president of the Community Executive, Ursula von der Leyen states that “Portuguese citizens have fought in a very courageous and disciplined manner against the virus and have even been more successful than others”, and can count on the support of the EU, which will also help to “boost” the recovery of the national economy.

“The European Union will ensure that the Portuguese people, European citizens and people around the world have access to a future vaccine. And the EU will also be on the side of the Portuguese in recovering from the economic crisis”, guarantees the President of the Commission.

Maintaining that NextGenerationEU, the recovery fund proposed by its Executive and agreed by European leaders at a long summit in July, gives Europe “the opportunity not only to repair the damage and recover from the current situation, but to shape a better way of life”, Von der Leyen points out that“ Portugal will be an important beneficiary ”.

According to the commitment reached in July, Portugal will receive 15.3 billion euros in grants (non-repayable), including 13.2 billion euros, by 2023, through the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism, the main instrument of the Recovery Fund.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) yesterday placed Portugal in a group of states with a “worrying trend” in cases of covid-19, but with “moderate risk”; (middle group out of three groups).

In today’s updated and presented risk assessment, ECDC points out that positive cases of infection with the new coronavirus, which causes covid-19 disease, have increased steadily across the European Union since August, which demonstrates that “measures taken were not always sufficient to reduce or control exposure”, warning that“ it is therefore crucial that Member States implement all measures necessary at the first signs of new outbreaks ”.

According to the Center, non-pharmaceutical interventions such as physical distance, hygiene and the use of masks proved to be insufficient to reduce or control exposure to the coronavirus.

Even so, the agency’s director, Andrea Ammon, pointed out that, “until a safe and effective vaccine is available, these measures remain the main public health tool to control and manage outbreaks” of covid-19.

In this updated assessment, ECDC divided Member States into three groups: those with a “stable trend and reduced risk”, those with a “worrying trend, but a moderate risk” and those with “a worrying trend and a high risk”.

Portugal is placed in the subgroup with a worrying trend, but with a risk considered to be moderate, which includes countries where high and increasing [infection] rates are reported due to the high rates of tests performed, and transmission is primarily reported in young individuals a low proportion of serious cases and low death notification rates.

“This represents a moderate overall risk of covid-19 for the general population and for healthcare provision. However, it should be noted that if there is a high volume of transmission over several weeks, the protection of vulnerable individuals is a challenge, and since the impact of the disease on these groups is very high, the risk for this population remains to be very high”.

This subgroup includes Austria, Denmark, Estonia, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and the United Kingdom.

According to the ECDC assessment, the states that currently present the highest risk are Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Malta, Romania and Spain.

“Today’s new risk assessment shows us clearly that we cannot let our guard down. With some Member States registering a greater number of cases than during the peak of March, it is perfectly clear that this crisis is not behind us ”, commented the European Commissioner for Health, Stella Kyriakides, in a joint press conference with the director of ECDC.

 

The Council of Ministers today decided to extend the term of the moratorium on credit to families and companies ending on March 31, until another six months, until September 30, 2021.

“Exceptional measures to protect the credits of families, companies, private institutions of social solidarity, and other entities of the social economy, will come into force until September 30, 2021”, says the statement issued at the end of the Council of Ministers, which also decided to extend until October 14 the declaration of emergency situation throughout the country.

Bank moratoriums, which suspend payment of bank loan installments (principal and / or interest), had already been extended by the Government until March 31, 2021, which has now decided to extend it for another six months.

However, the extension of the moratoriums approved today provides different solutions for companies depending on the sector in which they operate and the impact of the pandemic on their activity.

Thus, companies inserted in sectors particularly affected by the pandemic, namely those of tourism, culture, social sector or car repair and trade, will benefit from the extension of the moratorium until September 30 in the exact manner defined until March 31, that is, they will continue to benefit from the suspension of payment of principal and interest.

As for the remaining companies that are currently covered by the moratoriums, the six-month extension (until September 30, 2021) approved today, maintains the suspension of the payment of capital, but not of interest, as stated by the Minister of State and Economy, Pedro Siza Vieira.

“All companies currently benefiting from the moratorium will benefit from this additional six-month extension until September 30, 2021,” said the minister, after recalling that the moratorium now in force (and ending on March 31, 2021) corresponds a suspension of the principal and interest payment obligations.

Pedro Siza Vieira clarified that “the extension that now occurs [until September 30, 2021] is for six months for capital installments, only”, so most companies will have to start paying interest on loans as of 01 April 2021.

However, and this was another of the decisions made today by the Council of Ministers, for companies in sectors particularly affected by the pandemic, that extension of the moratorium until September 30 applies to the suspension of payment of capital and interest.

These tourism companies, culture and other sectors most affected, will also have an additional period of 12 months to repay the outstanding capital.

In practice, this measure, as stated by Siza Vieira, means that if, at the time the moratorium entered into force, a company had a loan in which it still had two years to finish paying it, it will have, as of September 30 2021, another year to repay the loan.

The measure, he said, will make it possible to “reduce the effort” to repay loans, and accommodate the longer-term impact of the crisis.

In the case of families, the minister stated that “the same universe” as those that benefit from the moratorium on housing and education credits sees “also the obligation to pay interest and capital to remain suspended until September 30, 2021”.

According to data presented by Pedro Siza Vieira, at the moment there are about 35 billion euros covered by the moratoriums, and until March, the obligations for payment of capital and interest that are suspended represent around 10 billion euros. .

On the other hand, the extension of the moratoriums decided today represents around 7 billion euros more, which is the amount that companies and families will not have to pay until that date.

The amounts in question led the minister to point out the “very significant effort” that the banking sector is making and to recognize its contribution in mitigating the impacts of this crisis.

Pedro Siza Vieira also said that these measures were taken taking into account the uncertainty about the strength of the economy’s recovery and reiterated that the Government will assess the needs to maintain or create measures depending on the assessment being made.

Since April, thousands of customers have not been paying loans to banks, making use of the Government decree-law that allows for loan default, created as an aid to families and companies penalized by the economic crisis triggered by the covid-19 pandemic.

The Government has ruled out the return to the past in which the country stopped, according to the Minister of Health, Marta Temido. The almost door-to-door knowledge of the current epidemiological situation can lead health authorities to choose local confinements, as is the case, for example, in some neighbourhoods in the Spanish capital.

In March, the country closed with fear of the covid-19, bent to the unknown. “We were in a phase where, in some way, we could support, even from a social and psychological point of view, more restrictive measures”, recalled the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, discarding going back, to that time with closed doors and empty streets.

“We already realized that confinement is less effective than in the past,” added the minister, in an interview with RTP’s “Telejornal” on Monday night. “Today all countries are trying to move away from that line, regardless of whether there may be surgical measures locally”, such as those adopted in Spain.

The region of Madrid has decided, since Monday, to restrict freedom of movement affecting more than 850 thousand people, 13% of the total inhabitants, in areas of the city where there was a great increase in the contagions of covid-19. The affected population may leave the neighbourhood to go to work, to the doctor or to take their children to school, and the number of people who can meet is reduced from 10 to 6.

On the day that the Health Plan for the autumn-winter of 2020-21 was presented, the Minister of Health highlighted the pertinence of the epidemiological risk map, which appears in the document prepared by the DGS. “This is very important. In some regions of the country, we have already been able to say what the risk is almost door-to-door. This allows for more incisive and more effective action by public health, social security, security forces,” he explained. .

One more reason for the minister’s optimism. “We face this phase with confidence. We have more means, more human and technical resources, more organization and more knowledge,” said Marta Temida .

“We currently have 700 more ventilators than we had in March,” said the minister, also reporting the increase in testing capacity, defended as one of the important vectors of the Health Plan for the fall-winter of 2020-21. “In terms of laboratory capacity, we were doing about 3,000 tests a day in March and now we are doing 23,000 tests a day,” he said.

The NHS has 21 thousand hospital beds, seven thousand in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Region “Of the 500 beds that the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Region has kept – in quotation marks – in this phase to respond to the covid, 300 are currently occupied “, said the minister. “There are 300 of the 500 that are part of the seven thousand”, he stressed, referring that the advantage of the SNS “is to work in a network” and that if necessary, it can mobilize more beds, even from the private sector.

Still in this interview, Marta Temido acknowledged that the SNS 24 Health Line does not always answer the phone, and admitted that this is largely due to a problem with the telephone networks. “We are trying to resolve, to invest in technological modernization,” he said, stressing that “the strengthening of telephone lines and the service capacity” is being carried out.

The Minister of the Environment warned today that “there is no point in multiplying dams when there is no water”, pointing to the reuse of wastewater as the most immediate solution to guarantee greater water availability in the Algarve, which is in severe drought.

“The problem cannot be solved by building dams”, said João Pedro Matos Fernandes during the presentation of the Regional Water Efficiency Plan for the Algarve, in Faro.

He added in terms of funding for the next Community Support Framework, that the use of treated wastewater “will be right at the forefront of projects that may be financed”.

On the contrary, the minister said, in the “taxonomy of community financing” there is no “desalination or any dam”, but solutions “for the resilience of water supply”.

In this sense, João Pedro Matos Fernandes defends the reuse of treated wastewater for the irrigation of golf courses, which already happens in specific cases, in public green spaces or for street washing.

The Minister for the Environment and Climate Action said he believed that “it is only a few years before the majority of golf courses in the Algarve will be watered exclusively from waste water”.

In addition to the presentation of the plan, the session, which took place at the University of Algarve, included the signing of protocols with the 16 municipalities in the Algarve, for priority interventions in the water efficiency plan and a protocol between Águas do Algarve and Associação dos Campos of Golf.

The plan lists 57 measures, the implementation of which corresponds to an investment of 228 million euros, the majority of which are destined to the agriculture sector, in the amount of 79 million euros, although the urban component is the one that requires greater investment (122 million euros).

During the presentation of the Regional Water Efficiency Plan, potential solutions were pointed out to reinforce the water supply in the region, namely, the abstraction of water in the Guadiana River, upstream of the Pomarão, the desalination of sea water and the construction of a dam in ribeira da Foupana, in the eastern Algarve.