Hospitals are the fullest they’ve been in two months, and what’s happening with Portugal’s COVID-tracing app?
Portuguese news in English on June 29, 2020.
It wasn’t a great weekend statistically, with the highest increase in new cases (457) since May 8 being recorded on Sunday. Thankfully, that number was way down today, but we should probably bear in mind that figures for Monday are usually lower than for the rest of the week. Deaths are remaining somewhat steady between about three and six most days, and daily recoveries are stary roughly around the 250 mark, with the exception of today.
Highest number hospitalisations in two months
Portugal’s hospitals are the fullest they have been for almost two months, following the biggest weekly increase in cases since reopening, Diário de Notícias reports. Another 31 COVID-19 patients were hospitalised in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 489, the most since May 30 and the biggest increase in a similar period. Even so, Secretary of State for Health António Lacerda Sales said there was no overloading of the health system, even in the Lisbon and Tejo Valley region, where 80 health professionals are due to be added this week. There are 71 people in intensive care. The new hospitalisations come after the largest weekly increase in cases since the second last weekend of April, Diário de Notícias reports. Speaking to Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia on Sunday, Prime Minister António Costa said it was too early to draw conclusions but pointed out that “even in a controlled situation, there’s always the risk of new outbreaks that can alter the statistical reality”.
The blue line is cases confirmed DAILY and the other line is the TOTAL number of deaths, hence why it keeps climbing. Click here for an interactive version.
Lisbon’s trains aren’t overloaded, government says
Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos has denied a problem with overloaded trains in Greater Lisbon, following sustained complaints about public transport capacity, Público reports. Eight trains on the Sintra line came close to hitting the allowed two-thirds capacity and one hit 80% he admitted, but said the line’s average occupation in peak hour was between 35% and 45%, depending on the destination. Mayors of some of Lisbon’s most-affected councils have blamed overloaded buses in part for outbreaks in their areas.
The other major factor pointed to as a potential cause for the outbreaks in 19 of Greater Lisbon’s parishes is construction work, particularly among temporary workers. Efforts to stop the coronavirus’s spread in building sites continue, but unions and health authorities are noticing huge differences from worksite to worksite, prompting calls for monitoring teams in every council in the country, Público reports.
Complaints have also emerged about some elements of the workplace program undertaken at the start of this month, Público reports. Results from some of the tests, which played a big role in uncovering the various outbreaks in construction sites around Greater Lisbon, took as long as two weeks to come back, one worker complained. Workers who tested positive were sent home, but not always followed up by National Health Service staff, the worker said.
When is the COVID-tracing app being released?
Two months after Prime Minister António Costa first spoke about the potential for a COVID-tracing app, we're still waiting for it to be finished, Público reports. In a way, that could be a good thing. Major bluetooth connection issues were rampant in apps released by the British (BBC, English) and Australian (Sydney Morning Herald, English) governments, which didn’t wait for Apple and Google’s specific tracing framework to become available. But Germany’s effort started alerting users (The Local, English) of potential contacts last week. Regardless of the timeframe, Portugal’s National Data Protection Commission has released its evaluation of the Stay Away Covid app, which included praise and recommendations to improve some “critical aspects”. The commission called for the app to be voluntary, able to be turned off and for safeguards to be adopted in relation to how a doctor can authenticate and interact with the system. It noted that interoperability with apps from other countries would mean dealing with more data, but praised the fact data was not sent to a central server and the preoccupation with the system’s design to minimise the use of data. Institute for Systems and Computer Engineering, Technology and Science president Manuel Mendonça said the app had been ready for weeks but just waiting for the green light from various authorities. They’re working to have the app, which is seen as a boost to contact tracing, not a replacement for it, available by the middle of July.
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In brief
Portugal denies it is high COVID risk as it fights back against UK threat to quarantine holidaymakers. My latest article on the UK-Portugal “air bridge” saga (The Telegraph, English)
Alojamento Local occupancy in Lisbon fell to 5% in May. In Porto, occupancy in the local lodging tourist accommodation program was just 3%. (Público)
One dead and 41 infected in a nursing home in São Domingos de Rana (Oeiras). (Diário de Notícias)
Outbreak in Portuguese Oncology Institute Lisbon forces 70 into preventative quarantine. (Diário de Notícias)
Crowds at the Champions League finals? At the moment, obviously not, the Secretary of State for health says. (Diário de Notícias)
On a lighter note
Flights between Portugal and Argentina have been cancelled since mid-March but, as one Argentine desperate to get home to his family found, there’s nothing to stop you sailing. When flights were cancelled, Juan Manuel Ballestero, 47, had a choice: stay safe and sound in the basically COVID-free Portuguese Island of Porto Santo (next to Madeira and part of the same autonomous region), or sail across the world’s second biggest ocean to see his family. He ate canned tuna, fruit and rice, got drunk occasionally and made friends with some dolphins, before a rogue wave badly damaged the boat when he was just 250 kilometres from Brazil. You can read the whole New York Times story in English.
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