Madeira Situation Report Wednesday 7th July 2021
By our Special Correspondent, Daniel Fernandes
Covid-19 update
There were 37 new Covid-19 cases, 34 recoveries and no deaths from Covid-19 in Madeira since the previous Madeira Situation Report.
On Saturday, there were 6 new Covid-19 cases (all cases of local transmission) and 4 recoveries. Once again, there were no patients in hospital.
On Sunday, there were 12 new Covid-19 cases (from 1 passenger who had arrived from Brazil, 1 passenger who had arrived from South Africa, 2 passengers who had arrived from the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Region and 8 cases of local transmission) and 10 recoveries. There were no patients in hospital.
On Monday, there were 9 new Covid-19 cases (from 1 passenger who had arrived from the Czech Republic, 1 passenger who had arrived from the UK, 3 passengers who had arrived from the Lisbon and Tagus Valley Region, 2 passengers who had arrived from Central Portugal and 2 cases of local transmission) and 14 recoveries. There were no patients in hospital.
And on Tuesday, there were 10 new Covid-19 cases (from 1 passenger who had arrived from the United Arab Emirates, 1 passenger who had arrived from Northern Portugal and 8 cases of local transmission) and 6 recoveries. There were no patients in hospital for a second consecutive day.
There were 79 active cases on Tuesday, of which 24 had been imported while the other 55 cases had been a result of local transmission. As of Tuesday, there had been 9,705 cases, 9,553 recoveries and 73 deaths.
On Tuesday, there were 21 patients in isolation in a dedicated hotel, 58 patients in isolation in their own accommodation and no patients in hospital.
On the same day, there were 17 suspected cases under epidemiological investigation and analysis, which were all linked to patients who tested positive for Covid-19, to calls made to the SRS24 helpline, to referrals by SESARAM (Madeira Regional Health Service) and to airport screening.
There were 26,973 travellers under monitoring by the health authorities. Monitoring is being carried out through the ‘MadeiraSafe’ app. There were also 432 people, who had contact with positive cases, being monitored by the health authorities of several Madeira municipalities and of Porto Santo.
As for Covid-19 testing on passengers who had arrived at Funchal and Porto Santo airports, 250,671 samples had been collected until Tuesday (at 15h30). By Tuesday, 504,799 samples from RT-PCR tests had been processed and 73,142 antigen rapid tests had been carried out in the Autonomous Region of Madeira.
The SRS 24 helpline (Regional Health Service – 800 24 24 20) received 485 calls from Friday to Tuesday. Overall, it had received 55,349 calls.
The Covid-19 mental health helpline (Linha de Acompanhamento Psicológico da Direção Regional de Saúde – 291 212 399 – available every day from 09h00 to 21h00), which was set up to provide emotional and mental support to anyone in Madeira received 21 calls from Friday to Tuesday. Overall, it has received 3,714 calls.
https://funchalnoticias.net/2021/07/04/6-novos-casos-de-covid-19-55-suspeitos-4-recuperados/
https://funchalnoticias.net/2021/07/04/12-novos-casos-de-covid-19-10-recuperados-24-suspeitos/
https://funchalnoticias.net/2021/07/05/9-novos-casos-de-covid-19-14-recuperados-37-suspeitos/
https://funchalnoticias.net/2021/07/06/10-novos-casos-de-covid-19-6-recuperados-17-suspeitos/
Inoculation of 2nd dose of AstraZeneca vaccines brought forward
The Regional Health and Civil Protection Secretariat have brought forward the inoculation of the 2nd dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine. People who had been scheduled to be inoculated with the 2nd dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine on July 15th and 16th are instead asked to be inoculated on July 7th and 9th respectively, at Centro de Vacinação do Funchal (Funchal Vaccination Centre) which is located at Madeira Tecnopólo.
Covid-19 vaccination update
As of July 4th, 232,172 Covid-19 vaccine doses (131,130 1st doses & 101,042 2nd doses) had been administered in the Autonomous Region of Madeira. This means that 52% of the population has been inoculated with the 1st vaccine dose while 40% of the population have been fully vaccinated.
A total of 22,210 vaccine doses (9,927 1st doses & 12,283 2nd doses) were administered in the week leading up to July 4th.
A highlight is that the Municipality of Porto Moniz has reached the milestone of having 70% of its residents vaccinated with at least 1 vaccine dose. The Municipality of Porto Santo had been the first municipality in the Region to have reached this figure.
The priority for this week is to continue the vaccination campaign, particularly in the municipalities of Câmara de Lobos and Santa Cruz.
A shipment of 35,100 Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine doses arrived in Funchal in the early hours of Saturday. It will allow the regional Covid-19 vaccination campaign to continue.
https://funchalnoticias.net/2021/07/04/mais-35-100-vacinas-da-pfizer-chegaram-ao-funchal/
Delta variant
Pedro Ramos, Madeira’s Health and Civil Protection Secretary, said the Delta variant of Covid-19 has been present in 20% of all samples sent by the Autonomous Region of Madeira for genome sequencing at Instituto Ricardo Jorge. Once again, he appealed for the population to get vaccinated and to the tested at pharmacies every fortnight. Nevertheless, he said the Region is becoming more and more protected thanks to the work carried out by the regional authorities. According to him, this has ensured there are few Covid-19 cases, deconfinement has taken place and people are living almost normally. He reminded that this fight isn’t over yet.
Tourism in Madeira
Tourism levels in Madeira are increasing and the latest data suggests that there are more seats available on flights to Madeira in July and August than there were before the pandemic. Eduardo Jesus, the Madeira Tourism Secretary, said that SATA and easyJet are carrying out their biggest operation ever to Madeira. He also said that although hotel occupation levels in 2020 reached 31% of their capacity, which was far below the usual levels, this was still an extraordinary figure if the pandemic is taken into account and if a comparison is made with the data in the Portuguese mainland (34%) and in the Azores archipelago (19%). Although he was pleased with Germany’s decision to remove strict restrictions for travellers arriving from Portugal, he wished Germany had positively discriminated the Region because it is “way ahead” of the rest of the country. He informed that he had made contact 139 times with 15 countries in order to ensure the return of flights to Madeira and the inclusion of the Region in air corridors.
Power cut
Empresa de Electricidade da Madeira (Madeira power supplier) announced there will be power cuts due to planned work on the electricity supply network. These works cannot be postponed and will take place in the following days and places:
CÂMARA DE LOBOS – July 7th – 09h00 to 12h00
– Caminho da Levada dos Barreiros (numbers 38 to 58)
– Caminho da Nazaré (numbers 12 to 39)
– Rua do Cabrestante (numbers 24 to 404)
– Rua do Curaçau (number 40)
– Estrada do Cabrestante (numbers 3 to 8)
FUNCHAL – July 8th – 09h00 to 12h00
– Rua Velha da Ajuda (number 124)
– Rua do Vale do Amparo (numbers 3 to 14)
– Travessa do Pinheiro das Voltas
– Travessa do Tanque (number 121)
– 1ª Vereda do Pinheiro das Voltas (numbers 16 to 23)
July 9th – 00h00 to 05h00
– Estrada Comandante Camacho de Freitas (number 82)
– Rua da Encosta do Pico dos Barcelos – Galeria and Bar
– Urbanização do Pico dos Barcelos
SANTANA – July 9th – 13h30 to 16h30
– Lamaceiros
– Lombo do Curral
– Pico António Fernandes
– Pico do Eixo
– Queimadas e Fontes
– Serrado
– Rua do Pico António Fernandes (number 49)
– Travessa e Beco da Feiteira do Nuno (numbers 5 and 11)
– Vereda do Cabeço das Fontes (numbers 2 and 6)
However, power could be restored during the time frame mentioned above. So, for safety purposes, it should be assumed that there will be power at any time during this period of time.
If necessary, customers can contact the free Customer Support Service (Serviço de Apoio ao Cliente): 800 221 187.