Masks to be recommended in busy outdoor areas // Winter health plan to ‘preserve human life, protect the most vulnerable’
Portuguese news in English on September 21, 2020.
By the numbers
More covid-19 patients (13) died yesterday than any day since early July and Público reports there are more in hospital than any time since May 29. It does appear that these figures are starting to catch up with the elevated cases we’ve been seeing since the middle of August, although the number of people in intensive care is the same as it was a week ago. As you can see from the chart further down the page, that curve is still climbing and average daily case numbers have reached their highest point since late April.
Active, recovered, deaths, contacts under surveillance, confirmed, hospitalised, in ICU.
Winter health plan to ‘preserve human life, protect the most vulnerable’
Health authorities have unveiled the critical plan to get the National Health Service (SNS) through its most challenging winter, Diário de Notícias reports. The Health Plan for Autumn-Winter 2020-21 aims to “preserve human life, protect the most vulnerable and prepare responses for an expected growth in covid-19 cases”. It includes regular testing for health professionals, new dedicated areas for respiratory patients in hospitals and primary healthcare clinics, and a taskforce to help better manage non-covid patients. Reinforcing flu vaccination efforts, stockpiling of PPE and an increase in both capacity and speed of testing are also part of the plan. The plan aims to have test results available sooner both through extra capacity and the use of specific rapid tests that are slightly less accurate but promise to provide results in an hour.
Click here for interactive version.
Masks to be recommended in busy outdoor areas
Director-General of Health Graça Freitas says her department will soon recommend wearing a mask in any busy area, even outside, in situations where you can’t guarantee physical distancing, Público reports. She said it wasn’t a “change of opinion” but a reflection of the fact the department had always looked at mask-wearing from an evolving standpoint. “The recommendation will be for outdoor use when we are very close to others in busy places,” she said. Those recommendations should be coming out “very shortly”.
What the parties want from multibillion-dollar recovery plan
The political parties are meeting with Prime Minister António Costa today and tomorrow to discuss the Recovery and Resilience plan set to guide Portugal’s next decade, Público reports. His own Socialist Party (PS) wants a multi-party consensus given the plan will span three government cycles and has called for bets on reducing inequality, the universal availability of 5G, better mobility in cities and railways. The Social Democrat Party (PSD) is concerned with the state’s role in the plan, wanting the roughly €58 billion from the European Union will be wisely spent and more information about timeframes, costs and financing sources. The Left Bloc (BE) has criticised the lack of measures to improve workers’ rights and wages the Portuguese Communist Party (PCP) wants to ensure the “just” distribution of the funds.
Rents falling as tourist accommodation hits the market
Rental prices are starting to fall in Portugal’s two major cities as thousands of holiday rentals hit the market for medium- and long-term leases, Diário de Notícias reports. The Alojamento Local (Local Lodging) offering in Lisbon fell from 5212 last June to 3468 at the start of this summer and it’s a similar story in Porto, down 1158 units to 2536, according to Real Estate Confidential. The market intelligence firm’s director, Ricardo Guimarães, said Alojamento Local (AL) was one of the sectors most affected by the pandemic, prompting many owners to sell or rent their places on a longer term basis in order to keep paying mortgages. In the second quarter, the firm recorded a fall in rental prices of 6.9% in Lisbon and 3.9% in the wider Lisbon Metropolitan Area but a slight increase of 0.4% in central Porto, compared with the same period last year. Several real estate figures told Diário de Notícias they expected AL housing shifting to longer term rentals would go some way to correcting prices. Meanwhile Público reports AL companies, hotels and youth hostels have made 4500 beds available for students at regulated prices of €285 a room in Lisbon and cheaper elsewhere.
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In brief
People are saving more because of the pandemic. Saving levels are at the highest level since 2014, which sounds good but in many ways isn’t great for the economy. (Público)
Presidential candidate Ana Gomes has a party supporting her, but it's not her own. Livre - a left-wing party based on freedom, equality, civil rights, social justice and ecology - has announced its support.
Portuguese want President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa to be more demanding of the government. A poll shows increased confidence in the President as confidence in Prime Minister António Costa drops.
More than a million people have downloaded the StayAway Covid tracing app. You should too because it works better the more people have it. Download here (Público)
Algarve unemployment jumps 178% in August (Diário de Notícias)
On a lighter note
You’ve probably already realised I’m a massive advocate for Portuguese food and wine, but it’s also nice to see less common dining options pop up in Portugal. Sépideh Radfar teaches Persian language and culture at the University of Lisboa and is now introducing Lisboetas to the traditional Iranian food as well at Restaurante Bar Khayyam, Diário de Notícias reports. There are some interesting storylines behind the restaurant, from the Persian poet it's named after to the encounter between an Iranian and Portuguese immigrant in France that ended with Ms Radfar falling in love and moving to Portugal. The journalist — who knows the cook from when they worked together on a report in Iran — raves about the kashk-e-badejoom (aubergine with onion garlic and mint) and ghelgheli ba adass polo (meatballs with caramelised onion and dates served with lentil rice).
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