More contagious UK strain detected in Portugal // Concern over effect of Christmas on pandemic
Portuguese news in English on Monday, January 4, 2021.
By the numbers
With the big jumps in confirmed cases and all the public holidays it’s a bit hard to pull any trends out of the past few days. after December 26 and 27 saw fewer cases confirmed than any time since early October, New Year’s Eve set a new daily record (7627) and January 1 (6951) wasn’t far behind it. The lower case numbers from yesterday and the day before are likely influenced by the weekend and public holiday (not to mention hangovers). Hospital and ICU bed numbers had been declining pretty steadily but ticked back up over the past two days, while deaths have been roughly stable for about a week. The Lisbon and Tejo Valley region recorded more cases than the North yesterday and the day before, for the first time in months.
Your guide to all the restrictions currently in place.
More contagious UK strain detected in Portugal
Portuguese scientists have detected 16 cases of the new coronavirus variant, which appears to be more contagious and has sparked travel restrictions on UK passengers, Diário de Notícias reports. The Dr Ricardo Jorge National Health Institute (INSA) analysed 22 samples, mostly collected at Lisbon Airport from travellers returning from the UK, where the mutation first emerged. The first cases in continental Portugal were identified on Saturday, about a week after first being detected on the autonomous island of Madeira. INSA said more thorough investigation would be needed if any of the patients had not been overseas because that would indicate community transmission of the new variant. The new strain does not appear to cause more serious illness, the Financial Times reports, in English.
Waiting to see Christmas’s effect on pandemic
There are concerns an increase in transmission across the festive season could put Portugal’s hospitals back under pressure, Público reports. Gatherings over Christmas and the new year were expected to increase the spread of the coronavirus. Portuguese Association of Hospital Administrators president Alexandre Lourenço is concerned the numbers of covid-19 cases diagnosed in recent days is underreported thanks to some testing centres being closed. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said he was concerned there had been laxity over Christmas, Diário de Notícias reported. He said it was important to renew the state of emergency for eight days, pointing out the government would hear from experts on January 12.
Vale Carlos do Carmo, ‘the voice of Portugal’
Today is a national day of mourning for Carlos do Carmo, one of Portugal’s most beloved fado singers, who died on New Year’s Day, aged 81. Público describes him as, after Amália, the singer who fought hardest for the internationalisation of fado, the mournful genre inextricably linked with the Portuguese feeling of saudade. He died in Lisbon’s Santa Maria hospital after suffering an aortic aneurysm. In 2014, he became the first Portuguese artist to receive a Latin Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and was described by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa as “the voice of Portugal”, Reuters reported. “Carlos do Carmo was not only a notable fado singer... one of his greatest contributions to Portuguese culture was the way he renewed fado and prepared it for the future,” Prime Minister Antonio Costa tweeted.
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In brief
Vaccination coordinator rejects doctor group’s call for elderly to be vaccinated first. Francisco Ramos says nursing home residents, who are among the oldest, are already in the first group to be vaccinated.(Público)
Portugal's police forces keep clashing over which is responsible for vaccines. In Évora, the Public Security Police blocked a van after its first delivery, allegedly because although vaccine security is the domain of the National Republican Guard (GNR), the local PSP felt the area was under its jurisdiction. Similar incidents have happened elsewhere. (Público)
11pm curfew and more remote working: Madeira adopts new covid-19 restrictions. (Público)
On a lighter note
This is the story of a 32-year-old, a 72-year-old and their joint passion for windmills. When Público arrives at the Sobral de Monte Agraço windmill for the interview, Joaquim Lopes, the older one, grabs a piece of paper so as not to forget anything and begins with a very solemn and heartfelt note of thanks to the publication for its interest. Miguel Gomes describes the advice his grandfather, a miller, gave to him about the path he’d embarked on: “You’re crazy. Don’t mess with this. It doesn’t have any future at all.” But Mr Lopes was different, he saw “a seed” of promise in the younger man and together they’re fighting to raise awareness and restore Portugal’s many beautiful old abandoned windmills.
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