Call to follow other European countries on surgical masks // New state of emergency could give government power to close border
Portuguese news in English on January 27, 2021.
By the numbers
With 6923 new cases on Monday and 10,765 yesterday, things are still dire. More than 11,000 covid-19 patients have died and hospitals are still filling. As Observador points out, Portugal is doing worse than every other country in the world on all the major pandemic measures. It is the only country with an average of more than 1000 infections per million inhabitants over the past seven days and the highest number of daily deaths.
Details here on the lockdown measures.
Call to follow other European countries on surgical masks
The Portuguese Society of Pulmonology has called for surgical masks — as opposed to the cloth variety — to be made mandatory, Lusa reports. The appeal follows moves in France, Germany and Austria to require medical-grade masks to at least the FFP1 standard (filtering at least 84% of aerosols) of single-use surgical masks but in some cases as high as FFP2 (94%) or N95 (roughly equivalent to FFP2 but with a US certification), reported by CNN. The society issued the warning in light of the apparent increased contagiousness of new coronavirus variants discovered in the UK and elsewhere, warning many homemade fabric masks had no quality control and might not provide the desired protection.
New state of emergency could give government power to close border
Parliament is set to debate the renewal of the state of emergency on Thursday, with learning from home and the possibility to close the border, said to be on the table, Diário de Notícias reports. Greens MP Mariana Silva, after speaking with newly re-elected President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in his now-customary round of talks with the parties, said she expected only “minor changes”. Those could include allowances related to the continued closure of schools, a minor adjustment to allow book sales in supermarkets and a decree to allow the government to shut the borders, if necessary. None of this is certain but she appears to be saying any change would allow for the possible closure of borders but not force them to close. Several parties have called for distance education to be put in place.
Portugal may send covid-19 patients to other countries for treatment
The Portuguese government is considering sending covid-19 patients to other countries for treatment, Diário de Notícias reports, citing Health Minister Marta Temido. Ms Temido said Portugal was in a different situation, thanks mostly to its geography, than some central European nations where this had already happened because international care was already a relatively normal occurrence. Nevertheless she said there were weighs of receiving help and these were being considered. Speaking on Monday, she said hospital beds were still available but managing human resources could only be done with great difficulty. Público reports that oxygen supply at Hospital Amadora Sintra became overloaded on Tuesday night, with fluctuations in oxygen flow forcing the transfer of almost 50 patients to other local hospitals.
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In brief
European Medicines Agency says Pfizer and and Moderna vaccines are effective against the UK variant. The South African variant is “more complicated” and needs further study. (Público)
AstraZeneca vaccine may not go to older people, EU medicines chief suggests (The Guardian, in English)
More than 160,000 nursing home workers and residents have received at least one vaccine dose. Among medical workers, 100,000 have received one dose and a total of 38,000 people have received both doses.
On a lighter note
Portugal’s effective rail isolation from the rest of Europe should be over within a couple of years, the government says. The pandemic forced the suspension of the Lusitânia Comboio Hotel train route earlier this year and as far as I can tell it hasn’t returned (but I’m not 100% on that). But now Lusa quotes Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos saying a line with a maximum speed of 350km/h will be ready by December 2023. A previous attempt to link the capitals was put on ice in 20111 thanks to the financial crisis.
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