Algarve Situation Report Wednesday 14th July 2021
Covid-19: 60% of people in the Algarve have already received a dose of the vaccine, 40% have a complete process.
60% of the population of the Algarve has already received at least one dose of a vaccine against Covid-19, while 40% has finished the process, according to the bulletin of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) this Tuesday, 13 of July.
Last week, the region broke a new record, administering 50,763 doses, a number never before reached. Compared to the last report, the region has 5% more residents on one dose and 7% on both.
In total, since December, 413,045 vaccines have been given in the Algarve.
Covid-19: Delta variant responsible for 100% of infections in the Algarve.
The Delta variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus continues to be dominant in all regions of the country, being already responsible for all cases of infections in Lisbon and Vale do Tajo and in the Algarve.
According to the report by the National Institute of Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge (INSA) released today, this variant, associated with India and considered more transmissible, has a prevalence of 86.6% in Portugal, while Alpha, and initially identified in the United Kingdom, only it was responsible for 10.2% of infections in the week of June 28th to July 4th.
The INSA further states that the Delta variant already has a prevalence of 100% in the Lisbon and Vale do Tajo and Algarve regions, 88.2 in the North, 81.8 in the Center, 95% in Alentejo, 62.5 % in the Azores and 79.2% in Madeira.
“Among other variants of interest in circulation in Portugal, the variant/lineage B.1.621 stands out, initially detected in Colombia, which has shown a relative frequency of around 1% in recent weeks”, says the study on diversity genetics of the new coronavirus in Portugal.
According to the document, this “variant of interest” has several mutations in the `spike’ protein that are shared with some “variants of concern”.
The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies the virus variants as “concern” (VOC) or “interested” (VOI), having assigned, at the end of May, the designation of letters of the Greek alphabet to facilitate understanding.
They came from Belgium just to clean up the Ria Formosa.
Despite all the constraints on the movement of people, resulting from the restriction measures imposed by the governments due to the health crisis caused by Covid-19, the Association for the Study and Conservation of the Oceans (AECO) once again received scouts from various regions of the country this year, including Belgium, to participate in their “traditional” awareness and clean-up campaigns in the Ria Formosa.
The association based on the University of Algarve’s Campus de Gambelas, informed that this year, the teams concentrated their efforts on Faro beach and managed to cover about 5 km outside the urbanized area, removing plastics and other non-biodegradable materials, such as masks, personal protection and single-use metal packaging.
“Nature conservation cannot wait” stressed Ricardo Barradas member of the AECO. After a year of stoppage, continuing “the support of the Municipality of Faro and Algar was essential for us to return to the field. Realizing that there is more and more to be done, it seems that instead of reducing we are producing more and more waste”.
In addition to garbage collection, the young people collaborated in activities to refurbish public facilities, painting rusty railings and gates or removing weeds from the soccer field on the beach.
Covid-19: Hospitals in the Algarve have 50% capacity for patients.
Hospitals in the Algarve have 60 patients in Covid-19 wards, 13 of which are in intensive care, which represents about 50% of the capacity of phase 2 of the contingency plan, said today a source at the Hospital Center.
“Right now, we have 50% of our total intensive care capacity destined for covid patients, which does not affect other services, with hospitals in normal operation,” said one of the members of the board of directors of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve (CHUA), Paulo Neves.
According to the official, the 50% refers to the capacity of beds foreseen for phase 2 of the contingency plan, with the Algarve hospitals “still having room to increase this capacity, if necessary.”
“We have a contingency plan that can be adjusted and increased according to needs, but we have the perspective of not having a substantial increase in the number of cases of the disease”, he indicated.
According to Paulo Neves, the perspective “has to do with the number of cases registered on average in the last four days, given that, in that period, there was no significant variation in the number of admissions in hospitals in the Algarve”.
“Our forecast is that the trend that has been seen since the beginning of the month of people needing hospitalization will continue, although we are prepared to respond to a possible increase in severe cases of the disease”, he stressed.
In the official’s opinion, “vaccination coverage is playing an important role in the number of serious cases and deaths” related to the disease in the Algarve, exemplifying with the low number, four, of patients hospitalized in intensive care needing assisted ventilation”.
In the week ending on July 11st, 19,319 Covid-19 vaccine doses were administered (12,436 1st doses & 6,883 2nd doses/full vaccinations). A highlight from the week was the fact that over 60% of the population of the municipalities of Calheta and Santana have been inoculated with the 1st vaccine dose. Over 70% of the population of the Municipalities of Porto Santo and Porto Moniz have already been inoculated with the 1st vaccine dose.
The search for Michael Kopek, a Polish tourist who had gone missing while running on a trail was suspended on Saturday. Over 30 from several fire brigades, the Forest Police (Corpo de Polícia Florestal), the PSP police force (Polícia de Segurança Pública), the GNR police force (Guarda Nacional Republicana), the Regional Civil Protection Service (Serviço Regional de Protecção Civil), 5 rescue dogs, 2 drones and a multi-mission helicopter were deployed during the search.
Although this may seem high, these numbers contrast drastically with the maximum number of active outbreaks recorded in February 2021, when there were 921 active outbreaks in mainland Portugal. As you can see from our weekly comparison tables, that we publish on Mondays, the number of infections is also having some impact on the health service. Compared with the daily averages over three weeks, the numbers in ICU were up 57%, and in hospital they increased by 68%. Again to put this in context, at the beginning of February this year, those in hospital stood at near 7000, many times higher than at present.
Turning to the weather – well the temperatures did not reach the higher 40s forecast for last weekend, but it was still very hot, with temperatures around 39C and just over 40C recorded in some central and southern parts of the mainland. During this period we publish the Rural Fire Index which shows the rate by which fires can start and spread.
This increase in cases, however, verifies the impact of vaccination on the increase in cases, since the increase in the number of cases has been less accentuated among the elderly. To Público, the mathematician Carlos Antunes, from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, stated that it is possible to verify a “gradual mitigation” of infections “in the higher aged groups”.
A source from the University Hospital Centre Lisbon North (CHLN), which integrates the Hospital Santa Maria, said that the contingency plan for the response to Covid-19 patients, as of today, has 42 beds available in the infirmary and 19 in the ICU.
Entitled “Face the pandemic, ensure survival”, the plan is presented by the Association of Hotels, Catering and Similar Services of Portugal (AHRESP) as a “last attempt to save the most affected sectors” by the pandemic crisis.
Despite the EU trying to work as “one” we are seeing many countries putting their own rules into place. Norway has imposed a mandatory quarantine requirement for arrivals from Luxembourg, due to an increase in the number of infections registered on the latter, Norway’s government has confirmed.
Fully vaccinated travellers can now freely enter the territory of Slovakia, as the country has changed its entry restrictions rules since July 9th, putting to an end the traffic light system, which determines the nationals of which countries could enter Slovakia, depending on country of origin infection rates.
With the number of cases increasing in France the cost of testing is now being put onto the person rather than the state. Tests used for detecting the Covid-19 will no longer be free of charge for tourists visiting France, as the government decided on July 7th.
According to a press release of the same Ministry, the Finnish government has decided to continue internal border controls, which were set to expire on July 12th, until July 25th. The move has been taken in order to make sure that municipalities and joint municipal authorities have the necessary time to prepare for the implementation of health security measures under the Communicable Diseases Act.
Spain is one of the European countries that has been seriously affected by Covid-19, and since the beginning of the pandemic, the country has reported a large number of cases and deaths. After having one of the most stringent lockdowns in Spring 2020, Spain reopened for summer in the same year. Still, in November, the latter entered a State of Emergency once again, leaving the country in continuous lockdown until May 9th, 2021.
Some good news – More than 611,000 people were vaccinated in the last four days, the Vaccination Task Force confirmed yesterday. On Thursday, Portugal reached a new record in the number of vaccinations with 158,000 doses administered in one day.
Lisbon, 09 Jul 2021 (Lusa) – One hundred and thirty municipalities record an incidence of new cases of infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus above 120 per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days, 43 more than last Friday.
In the first six days of July alone, 364,380 Covid-19 tests were carried out in Portugal, which represents an average of more than 60,000 daily tests and the highest value since the beginning of the pandemic, according to data provided by the National Health Institute Dr. Ricardo Jorge (INSA) to ECO.
always available to hold meetings at Infarmed and, therefore, if that is the intention of all parties, we are available for this meeting”, said Mariana Vieira da Silva in response to a question from the Renaissance.
Speaking to Lusa agency, the president of the Association of Hotels and Touristic Enterprises of the Algarve (AHETA), Elidérico Viegas, was very critical of the decision announced on Thursday by the Council of Ministers to introduce a test or certificate requirement in hotels , in mainland Portugal, and within restaurants in high and very high risk municipalities, from 19:00 on Fridays and on weekends and holidays, a measure that currently affects nine of the 16 municipalities in the Algarve.
One of the most heard criticisms at the place, according to Algarve Primeira, was the waiting time, but also because some people passed the front in line, not respecting the order of arrival.
“In very low-risk municipalities, there is a capacity limitation of half of the respective capacity. In low-risk municipalities, it is a third of the respective capacity and, in medium-risk or higher municipalities, a quarter of the respective capacity and subject to a plan of contingency”.
In total, three countries account for more than a third of all global deaths. The United States, which has the highest number of fatalities at 606,000, accounts for 15% of the global total, followed by Brazil and India.
We start with Europe, where we saw reported cases rise by 43%, an increase of 164,655 cases. Just as concerning, Europe saw a rise of 3% in deaths attributed to Covid-19 in the past 7 days making a total of 6,348. Russia had the highest death count at 4,827 followed by Germany with 206 and the Ukraine with 197. Three other countries, the United Kingdom, France and Italy all had over 150 deaths in the past week.
The weekly trend here is a rise of 11% in reported cases, 213,346 compared to 192,819 in the previous week. In deaths we have seen a 13% drop in the last 7 days. Of the 35 countries represented, 18 have had increases in cases. One good factor to report is that only 15 of the 35 countries recorded 3 deaths or more in the past week.
In the past week there has been a 21% increase in record cases across the continent and more concerning a 25% increase in deaths.
In a recent report published by the WHO, they recommended that schools should remain open for as long as possible with adequate public health and social measures in place, and governments should use the summer months to implement measures that protect in-person schooling in the next school year, This report was from an international group of experts established by the World Health Organization’s Regional Office for Europe, in its latest recommendations on schooling during Covid-19.
“The summer months offer a valuable window of opportunity for governments to put in place the right set of measures that will help keep infection rates down and avoid resorting to school closures, which, as we have seen, have such a harmful effect on the education, social and mental well-being of our children and youth,” said Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe. “The spread of new variants, coupled with the presence of pockets of unvaccinated people in school settings, means that there is no time to lose. The time to act is now. We can’t allow the pandemic to rob children of their education and development.”
Across the WHO European Region, the pandemic had a dire impact on schooling during the 2020-2021 academic year. UNESCO’s monitoring of national distance learning solutions shows that 44 out of 53 countries in the WHO European Region closed their schools at the national level at the height of the pandemic in April 2020.
Schools deliver essential functions beyond education that cannot be delivered online, including the opportunity for real-life interactions with peers, which is essential for healthy development. Online teaching therefore remains a suboptimal alternative. In addition, there is evidence that more children are experiencing food insecurity due to lack of school meals, and levels of violence against children increase when staying home during lockdowns and school closures.