AstraZeneca vaccine arrives in Portugal, halted in South Africa // School closures cause problems for parents
Portuguese news in English on February 8, 2021.
By the numbers
While case numbers and deaths continue to fall, it’s still a devastating time for hospitals. The number of covid-19 patients in intensive care broke 900 for the first time on Friday before falling over the weekend. Yesterday we saw the fewest new confirmed cases since January 5 and the fewest deaths since January 18. The 14-day average has now been falling consistently since January 30, which can be seen quite clearly on the chart further down.
AstraZeneca vaccine arrives in Portugal, halted in South Africa
South Africa has paused its rollout of the AstraZeneca-Oxford coronavirus vaccine after a study showed it did not protect volunteers from mild or moderate illness caused by the more contagious local variant, The New York Times reports. It’s a small study and has not been peer reviewed, making it difficult to make as many definitive takeaways from the results as many experts would like. For instance, most participants were fairly young so it’s hard to say what effect the vaccine might have on preventing severe illness but the scientists behind the trial say they believe it might. The news came on the same day Portugal received its first 43,200 vaccines from the manufacturer, Lusa reported, following earlier shipments of the more effective but harder to store and transport Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved by the European Medicines Agency but there has been no guidance issued specifically for Portugal. The national vaccination taskforce is due to meet today. There’s a version of the AstraZeneca vaccine study article from Reuters here, again in English, in case you hit the NYT paywall. Pfizer and Moderna both say their vaccines are less protective but still effective against the South African variant.
School closures cause problems for parents
Working parents are feeling the effects of school closures and a lack of support, Público reports. While the government will pay 66% of the salary of those who can’t work because they have to stay home to look after young children, that doesn’t apply to parents working from home. Many are exhausted as they try to juggle working and keeping an eye on their kids. The situation is particularly tough among call centre workers, many of whom get very few breaks throughout the day and are expected to hit targets of dozens of calls per day, Público reports. If I want to be a good mother, I’m a bad worker, and vice-versa,” one call centre worker said. As children return to remote working today, the National Association of School Directors warns about 300,000 students don’t have their own computer, saying families have realised it’s not enough to have just one computer in the house, Público reports.
Portugal could be among the best at controlling third wave, virologist says
Portugal was lauded for getting through the first wave of the pandemic better than most of Europe before being smashed harder than just about anywhere by the start of the third wave. As the numbers of new cases drop quickly, a prominent Portuguese virologist now says the country could be one of the most successful in controlling that third wave, Lusa reports. Pedro Simas, from the University of Lisbon’s Molecular Medicine Institute said there had been a “fantastic adherence” to lockdown and the result was there to be seen in the numbers. He said the closure of schools was determinant because of the strong message it sent to society at large and cautioned against reopening too quickly. He argued we should only start thinking about reopening when the number of new cases per day drops to about 700–1400, a figure he thought would be possible within two to three weeks.
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In brief
Increased demand drives surge in FFP2 mask prices. A pack of 50 that cost about €28 in January now costs about €40, according to KuantoKusta. (Diário de Notícias)
Portugal knocks back Galicia's offer to take covid-19 patients. Health Minister Marta Temido thanked the Spanish region for the offer but said the North’s health system was managing to deal with the number of patients. (Público)
Five days in Porto's biggest hospital. This long feature is worth a read if you can handle running it through your browser’s translator. (Público)
More than 800 fined in two days. Police say almost 500 of them were for disobeying the duty to stay home. (Diário de Notícias)
On a lighter note
Happy birthday to the world’s oldest irmãos! Ok, their birthdays were in December so I’m a bit late with the parabéns (congratulations). But after 111 and 109 years respectively, I’m sure Portuguese brothers Albano and Alberto won’t mind too much. The Santa Maria da Feira Municipal Assembly was expected to honour the brothers on Saturday, TSF Rádio Notícias reports.
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