On December 23, records of tests carried out were broken. In the first period, 800 classes took distance classes. Six people were arrested for the crime of disobedience. These and other figures on the sixth state of exception that took effect from 9 December.

This Wednesday afternoon, Parliament is debating the new state of emergency declared by the President of the Republic and validated by the Government. It will be the eighth and will last less than the previous ones, effective only between the 8th and 15th of January, while there is no new data on the evolution of contagions.

The same plenary session in which deputies will evaluate and vote on Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa’s proposal will serve to present the report on the sixth state of emergency – from 9 to 23 December. There are at least ten numbers to retain in the document sent to Parliament:

0.93

The report on the state of emergency always starts by portraying the epidemiological situation and this is no exception. One of the revealed data is the R (t) – average number of infections caused by each infected person -, which was always above 1 (national average)  between 5 August and 23 November and which fell to 0.93 in the days before Christmas (21 to 25). There is still to be retained the decrease in hospitalizations (451 fewer cases), including four fewer people hospitalized in intensive care.

51.5%

It was in the northern region of the country that, in percentage, more new cases were registered in the period of validity of the sixth state of emergency: 51.5%. In the Lisbon and Vale do Tejo area, the percentage was 32.2 points and 11.2 in the center. The remaining regions were always below these figures: Alentejo represented 2.6% of new cases; Algarve 1.8%; Azores 0.4%; and Madeira 0.3%.

9000

In the work carried out by the National Subcommittee on Civil Protection, created within the scope of covid-19, the representative of the Ministry of Education reported the existence of more than 9000 positive cases in the school community , since the beginning of the academic year. In all, this means that 800 classes had teaching activity not in person. It was the first time that an assessment of the first school period was made.

58,686

As of 23 December 2020, the number of covid-19 tests carried out in the country amounted to almost 5.5 million, 567,042 of which were carried out during the sixth state of emergency (including 65,328 rapid antigen tests). But there is another fact to note: December 23 was the day when more tests were carried out since the beginning of the pandemic, more precisely 58,686.

379

Most of the 379 fines recorded in the 15 days of the sixth state of emergency concerned non-compliance with the rules of occupation, permanence and distance in places open to the public. The fines were distributed as follows: 77 in the municipalities of moderate risk; 169 in high-risk patients; and 133 in very high and extreme risk. Six people were also arrested for the crime of disobedience and 40 establishments were closed.

65%

Among the supervised transport companies, it was STCP that presented the highest levels of demand between 9 and 23 December, in comparison with the data for 2019: 65%. This is followed by Transtejo / Soflusa, with 62%, Metro do Porto (59%) and Metro de Lisboa (38 %).

50

Flights registered between the People’s Republic of China and Portugal between March and the end of November to transport medical supplies. Fifteen of these flights operated by TAP allowed the transport of 1181 fans from Beijing to Lisbon .

133,757

Number of passengers controlled at Portuguese air borders (69,950 of which at the entrance and 63,807 at the exit). As for mobile controls at land borders, 886 people, 503 light vehicles and 17 buses were called.

42

The positive cases recorded between 9 and 23 December in the prison system , including 29 workers (22 guards, a health professional, a social reintegration technician and five professionals from other categories) and 13 prisoners. There have already been 778 cases recovered.

129

Number of pages of the report which also confirms, as has been observed, that Friday continues to be a day of particular dynamism in economic terms. The least intense day is Sunday.