Azores Situation Report Wednesday 14th September 2022
From our colleague in the Azores
Covid-19
In the seven days from Friday 2nd of September until Thursday 8th of September there were 237 new positive cases of Covid-19 registered in the Azores, and a total of 1,926 tests performed. 292 people have recovered, and no new deaths have been recorded with the total still at 117 There are 251 active cases, 54 fewer than the previous week.
There are 10 patients in the region’s hospitals as of 9th of September with Covid, 1 patient is in hospital because of Covid. There are no patients in the ICU.
120062 people in the region have had Covid, that’s over 50% of the population.
Ponta Delgada Hospital with 28 new nurses
Ponta Delgada Hospital has 28 new nurses, having “exceeded in 2021 for the first time the total of 600” nursing professionals, revealed the institution.
Discovered part of the hull of an Indian ship sunk in Faial in 1615
An underwater archaeology mission discovered a part of the hull of the Indian career ship “Nossa Senhora da Luz”, which sank in November 1615 off Faial, in the Azores.
In a statement, the Observatory of the Sea in the Azores (OMA) highlights that since the site of the wreck was rediscovered in 1999, “several research and monitoring campaigns have been carried out on the archaeological site”.
The discovery of part of the ship’s hull took place during the last of those campaigns, which began on August 29 and ends on Saturday.
“A particularly relevant discovery was made, with the identification of part of the hull of the ship, previously unknown, outcropping in the sand, a rare example of one of the most iconic ships of the modern era”, reads the press release.
The mission was coordinated by the OMA and the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, with the support of the Escola do Mar dos Açores and the Regional Directorate for Cultural Affairs of the Azores.
The ship “Nossa Senhora da Luz” left Goa in February 1615, having sunk on the 7th of November of the same year, near Porto Pim, “delivering many of its spoils to the coast in the following days”, recalls the OMA.
Due to the “importance of the cargo”, at the time, the Portuguese Crown organized a “giant salvage operation”.
It is estimated that “more than 150 people” died in that accident.
The OMA and FCSH campaign also included the archaeological survey of the wreck of the “Main”, an English steamer that also sank in the bay of Porto Pim in 1892.
This mission is part of the activities of the CONCHA project, funded by the European Commission under the “Maria Curie-Rise”, which aims to study the “Atlantic port cities of the modern era”.
The GNR identified, in the Azores, between 1st and 31st of August, eight men who “promoted the illegal rental of passenger vehicles” and located 24 vehicles without permission for rent-a-car activity.
“Recent variations in the international market in reference prices for oil and energy products justify an adjustment in the Maximum Public Sale Price (PMVP) of IO 95 gasoline, diesel for road use and fuel”, reads the statement. order that sets the maximum prices for the sale to the public of fuels in the Azores, which comes into force on 1stof September.
On board the sailboat SV Satori, which was sailing “574 kilometres north of the island of Terceira”, were “two children and two adults of English and Canadian nationality”.
In a press release, the IPMA adds that, on the islands of the western group (Flores and Corvo) “rainfall is sometimes expected”, which can “be accompanied by thunderstorms”, from 00:00 to 18:00 local time (19:00 in Lisbon) today.