Lisbon, 19 Nov 2020 (Lusa) – More than a third of Portuguese left home in the last two weeks without going to work and only 25% maintained the recommended distance of two meters between people, according to a study by the National School of Health Public.

The study Social Perceptions about Covid-19 was presented today by the director of the National School of Public Health (ENSP), Carla Nunes, at the Infarmed meeting that brought together several experts to analyse the epidemiological situation in Portugal in the context of the covid-19 pandemic. .

Regarding the frequency of leaving home in the last two weeks without going to work, especially in the last half of November, there is “a decrease in every day or almost every day”, but with “still very high” values about 35%, according to data from the Barómetro Covid-19 Opinion Social survey, which surveyed 182,581 people since March.

Regarding the question whether the respondent always wore a mask when he left the house and was with other people, there was an improvement again in September and October, but there is still 20% to say that they did not always wear it.

When asked if the respondent was always wearing a mask when he was in groups with ten or more people, 35% admitted that they were not.

When analyzing access to health services, the ENSP study found that there are still about 20% of people saying that they needed to go to consultations, but that they were not out of fear or because it was cleared by the service.

About 40% said they avoided or postponed non-urgent care for fear of contracting covid-19 in health services.

Regarding the level of confidence in the response of health services to covid-19, “since May, June there has been a very clear trend, with little confidence and not confident gaining space and relevance and, at this moment, about 40 % of people expressed these feelings.

On the same issue, but for other diseases without being covid-19, this pattern remains “with the little confident or not confident gaining more and more weight”, with close to 70% of people affirming it.

The adequacy of the measures implemented by the Government to combat covid-19 also shows “a clear pattern”, with around 50% considering them to be very adequate and adequate and the rest to be inadequate and not at all adequate.

Asked about their intention to get the vaccine against covid-19 as soon as it is ready, 25% said they are available to take it, against 10% who do not want to be vaccinated.

Half said they were confident or very confident about the efficacy and safety of the vaccines, the study said.

ENSP also addressed the perception of health status in the past two months. “In terms of mental health it was better during the summer, but now it is also similar to the beginning of the pandemic,” said Carla Nunes.

Those with the worst health status, whether global or mental, are women, the elderly and those with lower levels of education, he stressed.

Regarding the frequency with which the person has been feeling agitated, anxious, down or sad due to the physical distance measures, the study found some variations throughout the pandemic, but now they are similar in the last fortnight to the beginning of the pandemic, in the second fortnight. March.

The covid-19 pandemic has already caused more than 1.3 million deaths worldwide since December last year, including 3,701 in Portugal.