Christmas and the pandemic across Europe // Lisbon and Porto leave very-high-risk list, but no changes to restrictions
Portuguese news in English on Wednesday, January 6, 2021.
By the numbers
At first glance the confirmed case numbers from Monday (4369) and Tuesday (4956) might not seem too bad given all the concern about Christmas and the new year making the situation worse. But, it’s worth noting those are the highest case numbers we’ve seen early in the week since early-mid November, which was getting very close to the peak of the second wave. That doesn’t necessarily mean cases will continue to jump up as the week goes on but that’s certainly what the experts and health authorities are fearing. We’ve also seen about 400 covid-19 patients taken to hospital in three days after a month in which those numbers were gradually declining.
Christmas and the pandemic across Europe
Among European countries, Portugal had some of the lightest restrictions over Christmas and the new year, Público reports. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has admitted his concern, Porto’s São João Hospital is already noting the festive period’s effect on the emergency ward and Évora Hospital has stopped receiving infected patients. Público has put together some charts comparing the measures in place across several different European countries. It’s worth clicking through and using your browser’s translate function to see the whole picture but broadly speaking Portugal is the country with the strongest uptick in cases after Christmas, with the exception of the UK’s constant, month-long rise. Of the countries compared, France was the only other country not to limit the number of people allowed to gather for Christmas, but (as Euronews reports) restaurants aren’t due to reopen there until January 20. These figures are not necessarily directly attributable to Christmas and might be due to testing numbers or any number of other factors.
Pressure increases over Portugal’s controversial EU prosecutor appointment
Controversy has been bubbling for months now over Portugal's choice of appointee to a European Union prosecutor’s office. A senior Justice Ministry official resigned on Monday amid calls for higher scalps, Politico reports, in an English article that does a good job of summing up the whole story to date. There are essentially two key points in the saga. First, José Guerra nomination to the European Public Prosecutor’s Office came despite an independent European advisory panel recommending another candidate, Ana Carla Almeida, prompting criticism from a group of European legal experts. More spectacularly, Expresso and SIC last week revealed a letter sent by the government to the EU falsely described Mr Guerra as a deputy attorney-general and said he led the prosecution of a certain case when he was actually the trial’s magistrate. Justice Minister Francisca Van Dunem admitted “lapses” and “errors” in the communication but blamed lower-level officials for inserting them and said they were not decisive in Mr Guerra getting the job.
Major cities leave very-high-risk list, but no changes to restrictions
Lisbon and Porto have both dropped off the list of very high risk council areas in the latest figures, but that’s no guarantee of a reduction in restrictions, Jornal de Negócios reports. The country’s municipalities are divided into four risk scales based on the number of confirmed cases per 100,000 people, with those under very high and extreme risk subject to the strictest restrictions, such as the 1pm weekend curfew. Lisbon and Porto dropped to the high risk level, according to the latest figures divulged on Monday, but there are some important caveats. First, the figures are from December 14 to 27, meaning they’re somewhat distorted by including the very low numbers caused by low testing numbers over Christmas and not the very high numbers in the following days. Secondly, the restrictions are only recalculated on specific dates. The latest reclassification should be released today, covering the period from January 8 to 15. Members of Parliament are due to vote on the renewal of the state of emergency today, Diário de Notícias reports. I will let you know the outcome on Friday.
It takes a lot of work to keep this newsletter going. Please help out if you can.
In brief
PM advises vaccination program will last the whole year. At the start of the Portuguese Presidency of the Council of the European Union, António Costa said the bloc-wide vaccination effort was a “fundamental moment” to understand the EU’s value. (Público)
'Solidarity cannot be voluntary': Portugal begins talks on EU migration pact. Portugal started a round of talks on the new migration pact. (Reuters)
Portugal spent €750 million on private contracts in response to pandemic (Diário de Notícias)
Lisbon City Council puts in place action plan to shelter homeless people from the cold. The Mercado do Campo de Santa Clara, in São Vicente, will offer hot meals and a refuge centre for those without housing during the cold snap. (Público)
On a lighter note
I’m keeping today’s lighter note nice and simple. It’s just wombats eating dinner, for Wombat Wednesday. There’s just something so cute and calming about it that I feel like I could watch it on a loop forever. Plus, you guys seemed to enjoy the story about “skull-crushing” wombat butts I shared a few months ago so I hope you like this too.
Facebook videos don’t embed here, unfortunately, but it’s worth a watch with the sound on: https://www.facebook.com/LandlineABC/videos/427976655
Please keep sharing on Facebook, in real life or anywhere else you see people a bit confused by the latest news.