Azores Situation Report Saturday 26th June 2021
From our colleague in the Azores
Missing workers
The very bad weather felt this morning, in São Miguel, caused the death of two employees of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia of Povoação. The vehicle in which they were on duty to provide home support care was found between Lomba do Carro and Lomba do Boton heavily damaged, after being dragged off the road due to the overflowing of a stream.
According to the Mayor of Povoação,”at this moment, we still don’t have information on the bodies. The river is being swept from top to bottom to see if anything is found. The firefighters are also trying to open the van that it was so damaged that it is still not possible to see if anybody was left inside”.
Pedro Melo therefore assumes the worst scenario, given that women’s clothes were found in searches carried out on the river.
Vaccinations
The Azores have administered more than 200 thousand doses of vaccines against covid-19, with 47% of the population with at least one dose and 37% with full vaccination, revealed today the regional secretary of Health.
“In Portugal, with the first dose, the average of vaccinated is 46%, in the Azores this average is 47%. In Portugal, with complete vaccination, that is, with the second dose or with the application of the Janssen vaccine, which is a single dose, the average number of vaccinated people is 29%, in the Azores this average is 37%”, stated the head of Health in the Azores.
So far, 204,508 doses of vaccines against covid-19 have been administered in the Azores, with 114,502 people having at least one dose (47.2% of the population, according to Pordata data from 2019) and 90,006 people with vaccination completed (37.1%).
Extended Hours
The Government of the Azores extended the opening hours of restaurants in municipalities at the highest levels of risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, justifying the decision with the vaccination rate and the age groups of the new cases.
“There is clearly an age repercussion of vaccination, protecting the most vulnerable, especially people over 50 years of age. It is between 50 and 55 that we are now vaccinating and it is with this guarantee of the result of the vaccination that we are also able to adopt lighter measures in what is the control of the pandemic”, said the regional secretary of Health and Sports of the Azores, Clélio Meneses.
The municipalities’ restaurants at the two highest risk levels (medium high and high risk) in the Azores were forced to close at 20:00, which prompted criticism from entrepreneurs on the island of São Miguel.
From 00:00 on Saturday, the opening hours of the restaurants are extended from 20:00 to 22:00 in medium-high and high-risk municipalities, but cafes remain closed in high-risk ones.
In medium-risk municipalities there are no longer restrictions on the sale of alcoholic beverages between 20:00 and 22:00, in low-risk municipalities the opening hours are extended from 22:00 to 23:00 and in very low-risk municipalities if the operation until 23:59.
As for the prohibition of circulation on public roads in high-risk municipalities, it ceases to be in force between 21:00 pm and 05.00, and is only applied from 23:00 pm until 05.00.
According to Clélio Meneses, in addition to the vaccination rate (greater than 40% with the first dose on the island of São Miguel), the decision was based on the age level of the positive cases, since in January there were 424 cases in the Azores in people over 50 years old and, in June, that number dropped to 111.
“In January, over 80 years old, there were 32 cases, in the current month of June there are five cases; in January, between 70 and 79 years old, the Azores had 43 cases, in June we have 12 cases; in January, between 60 and 69 years, there were 139 cases, in June, there are 33 cases; and between 50 and 59 years of age, in January there were 210 and, in June, 61”, he exemplified. “The reduction in the level of hospitalizations and, above all, the seriousness of these hospitalizations”, at the moment, four patients are hospitalized with covid-19 in the Azores, none of them in intensive care.
23rd June 2021
20 new positive cases of covid-19 were diagnosed in the Azores, one on the island of São Jorge and 19 on the island of São Miguel, following 2,880 tests carried out in the reference laboratories of the Region and one in an independent laboratory.
On the island of São Jorge, there was a positive case in Velas of a traveller, non-resident, who tested positive on the 6th day.
On the island of São Miguel, there was a positive case of a traveller, resident in the parish of São José, municipality of Ponta Delgada, who tested positive on the 6th day. All the other cases concern community transmission. Thus, the municipality of Ribeira Grande registered seven new cases (five in Conceição, one in Rabo de Peixe and one in Matriz). There were eight new cases in the municipality of Ponta Delgada (five in São José, two in Fenais da Luz and one in Fajã de Baixo). There are four new cases in the municipality of Lagoa (three in Rosário and one in Santa Cruz).
28 recoveries have been registered.
24th June 2021
15 new positive cases of covid-19 were diagnosed in the Azores, all in São Miguel, resulting from 2,619 tests carried out in reference laboratories in the Region.
A non-resident traveller, in the parish of São Pedro, municipality of Ponta Delgada, obtained a positive result on arrival. Another non-resident traveller, in the parish of Fajã de Baixo, municipality of Ponta Delgada, obtained a positive result on the 6th day. All other cases are in the context of community transmission.
In the municipality of Ribeira Grande there were six new cases (two in Rabo de Peixe, two in Matriz, one in Ribeirinha and one in Conceição). In the municipality of Vila Franca do Campo there was a new case in Ponta Garça. In the municipality of Ponta Delgada there were four new cases (one in each of the parishes of São Pedro, Capelas, São Vicente Ferreira and Fajã de Baixo). In the municipality of Lagoa there are four new cases, all in Água de Pau.
During the epidemiological investigation, it was found that a positive case, initially located in the parish of são José, municipality of Ponta Delgada, is residing in the parish of Rabo de Peixe, municipality of Ribeira Grande, so the data in the tables in attached, reflect this change.
28 recoveries were recorded.
25th June 2021
17 new positive cases of covid-19 were diagnosed in the Azores, all on the island of São Miguel, following 2,644 tests carried out in the reference laboratories of the Region and one in an independent laboratory. One of the cases concerns a traveller, resident in the municipality of Vila Franca do Campo, who tested positive on the 6th day; all the other cases are related to community transmission.
The municipality of Ribeira Grande registered four new cases (two in Pico da Pedra, one in Matriz and one in Ribeirinha). In the municipality of Vila Franca do Campo, there was a new case in the parish of Ponta Garça. There were five new cases in the municipality of Ponta Delgada (two in Arrifes, two in Fajã de Baixo and on in Capelas). There are seven new cases in the municipality of Lagoa (six in Água de Pau and one in Santa Cruz).
One of the positive cases reported in the communiqué of June 23rd, from the municipality of Velas on the island of São Jorge, submitted documentation demonstrating a previous infection and recovery, and therefore is not considered an active case in the Region.
28 recoveries have been registered and as of yesterday, three patients are hospitalised, all at the Divino Espírito Santo Hospital in Ponta Delgada, none in intensive care.
The archipelago currently has 279 active positive cases: 265 on the island of São Miguel, four on the island of Terceira, eight on the island of Faial, one on the island of São Jorge and one on the island of Santa Maria. Two primary local transmission chains are active on the island of Faial, one in the parish of Praia do Norte and the other in Castelo Branco, municipality of Horta. To date, 203 have been extinguished on all islands. There are 998 people under active surveillance today.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 6,217 positive cases of covid-19 have been diagnosed in the Azores and 5,769 people recovered from the disease. There were 33 deaths, 80 people who left the archipelago and 56 cases with history of previous cure. To date, 566,247 tests have been carried out to detect SARS-CoV-2, which causes covid-19 disease.
From last December 31st, 2020 to June 23rd, 204,508 doses of covid-19 vaccine were administered in the Azores, corresponding to 114,502 people aged 16 years or more who received the first dose, and 90,006 people who received both doses, under the Regional Vaccination Plan
In a press release, the General Staff of the Armed Forces states that the team consisting of two doctors, six nurses and a pharmacist worked from the 6th to the 20th of June to support the regional process of vaccination in the Azorean islands without a hospital.
Continental Portugal began issuing digital vaccination certificates against Covid-19, on Wednesday 16th June, and it is possible to order it on the SNS24 portal. The PCR and recovery test certificates have had a “positive response from the Directorate-General for Health and shared services of the Ministry of Health so that there will be integration of data from the vaccination that took place in the Autonomous Region of the Azores into national systems”.
As for the 5,550 Janssen vaccines (single administration) that have recently arrived in the region, they have already started to be administered, according to the regional director, with 4,000 remaining on the island of São Miguel and 1,500 on the island of Terceira.
“It was agreed that, depending on the speed with which vaccination in these islands advanced, we could take advantage of the availability of the ‘task force’ to also strengthen the vaccination team in São Miguel, which has a more worrying epidemiological expectation”, explained the Azorean chief executive, José Manuel Bolieiro.
In a press release, the Azorean public company states that “the majority of flights planned between the Azores” and Canada “will be maintained” but, as of June 24th, eight flights will be cancelled between Ponta Delgada and Toronto and two connections between Praia da Vitória and that Canadian city.