Most pandemic restrictions dropped // Deaths too high to scrap remaining measures
Portuguese news in English on Friday, February 18, 2022.
By the numbers
All the numbers are going down, which is obviously great news. The average number of daily cases is almost half what it was at the start of the month and deaths are dropping again. There are more than 300 fewer people with COVID-19 in hospital and the ICU numbers are dropping slowly but steadily too. Experts meeting at Infarmed this week presented a new monitoring system that would stop focusing so much on daily case numbers, Público reports. The proposal, which hasn’t been discussed by the Council of Ministers, will likely include more attention to figures such as infections in older people.
Most pandemic restrictions dropped
The government has dropped most pandemic restrictions in the face of significantly falling case numbers and fewer hospitalisations, Público reports. The change, announced on Thursday, scraps occupancy limits, isolation for high-risk contacts, the work-from-home recommendation and most requirements to show a negative COVID-19 test or EU Digital COVID Certificate. For now, you’ll still need to wear a mask in indoor public spaces (including concert venues) and anyone who hasn’t received a booster will need a negative test to enter nursing homes or visit patients in hospitals and other health establishments. Apart from that, the only time you will have to prove your vaccination status is to enter the country. You no longer need a negative test to access large events, sporting precincts, bars and nightclubs (or to enter the country). The new rules are set to come into force “in the coming days”, Expresso reports.
Deaths too high to scrap remaining restrictions
Minister of State for the Presidency Mariana Vieira da Silva said the remaining measures would stay in place until there was a “significant drop” in COVID-19 deaths. Currently, an average of 63 COVID-19 patients per million residents are dying every fortnight. Experts believe that number can fall below 20 — a figure the minister said was recommended by the European Centre for Disease Control and Prevention — within five weeks, allowing remaining restrictions to be lifted. There are calls to more quickly drop the mask mandate for schools and concert venues, Público reports, but the minister insists they remain necessary with so many infections and deaths. “It’s not yet time to say the pandemic is over,” she said.
Calculations by epidemiologist Manuel Carmo Gomes indicate with the advent of Omicron and vaccines, Portugal’s COVID-19 death rate has fallen from 0.134% (13.4 deaths per 10,000 cases) in January last year to just 0.004% (0.4 deaths per 10,000 cases) now, Público reports. That second figure is still a bit more than double the figure the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention cites for the flu.
Emigrants to vote again after tens of thousands of ballots declared invalid
Portuguese citizens living in other European countries will head back to the polls next month after the Constitutional Court invalidated four out of every five European emigrant votes, Público reports. The decision, which will push back the inauguration of the new government from next week until the end of March, came after confusion over a law requiring emigrant voters to include a copy of their ID with their vote. Following a complaint by the opposition Social Democratic Party (PSD), the top court ruled an informal agreement by political parties to ditch the ID requirement was “grossly illegal”, annulling 157,000 votes, about 80% of those cast in Europe, Reuters reports, in English. The National Elections Commission has decided the fresh round of voting will take place on March 12 and 13 in person at embassies or via mail by March 23. There are almost 1 million Portuguese emigrants eligible to vote throughout Europe. Prime Minister-elect António Costa called for the law to be clarified and said emigrant voters were owed an apology.
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In brief
Health authorities recommend fourth COVID-19 vaccine dose for the seriously immunosuppressed. Portugal’s Directorate-General of health also launched an appeal for pregnant women to get a booster.
Fight over €45 million Algarve desalination plant. All the councils want the plant, which would provide about 10% of the drought-prone region’s water needs. They just don’t want it built locally because of the toxic brine it would produce.
Burning ship carrying Porsches adrift near Azores without crew. None of the 22 crew were hurt when the ship carrying almost 4000 VW, Porsche, Audi and Lamborghini cars caught fire. (The Guardian, in English)
On a lighter note
You know I can’t go past a good old fashioned list in this section, and today it’s Porto shining on the European stage. The Financial Times’ fDi Magazine has ranked the city third on its yearly list of Mid-Sized European Cities Of The Future, behind Vilnius in Lithuania and Belfast in Northern Ireland, Time Out reports. The publication labels Porto a “global business hub for the 21st century”, highlighting the region’s “highly skilled and innovative talent, its strategic location and good connections to Europe, its cost competitiveness, world-class universities, modern infrastructure and great quality of life.”
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