National vaccination plan reveals who will be first in line // State of emergency renewed // The peak has passed
Portuguese news in English on December 4, 2020.
By the numbers
Case numbers are the worst we’ve seen this week but, as I go into further down, things appear to be finally heading in the right direction. Unfortunately a lot of people are still dying every day, especially in the North. But both that figure and the extremely high hospital occupancy are expected to decrease in the coming weeks, so long as people keep reducing physical contacts, washing their hands and wearing masks.
National vaccination plan reveals who will be first in line
Almost a million people make up the first priority group to begin receiving covid-19 vaccines, if approved, in January, Público reports. Nothing is certain yet as the European Medicines Agency is still evaluating the BioNTech/Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. Vaccine taskforce leader Francisco Ramos outlined an “optimistic” scenario in which that first group was vaccinated in January and February, or by the end of March in the “most likely” scenario. The first priority group broadly comprises anyone over 50 with a specific set of illnesses; residents and workers in nursing homes and continued care homes; and health professionals directly fighting the pandemic, security and armed forces. The diseases listed are heart failure, coronary disease, kidney failure and those with chronic respiratory disease needing ventilator support.
The second priority group includes everyone over 65 not yet vaccinated and those between 50 and 64 with other illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, kidney disease, liver failure, obesity, and high blood pressure. Experts expect vaccination of this group to start in March or April and take about two months. The rest of the population fits in one big third group but Dr Ramos says all of the priority groups are subject to change depending on vaccine supply. Vaccination of the rest of the population — including “all residents, even those not yet legalised” (more info here from SEF about legalisation) — is expected to start in July and could last until the first quarter of 2022, Público reports.
The first two phases of vaccination will be carried out in health centres (centros de saude) and nursing homes before more access points are opened up for the rest of the population. According to the plan, health authorities will identify and contact people in the first two priority groups to schedule vaccination but those people are also able to request an appointment. I haven’t seen anything specific referring to the rights of foreigners for vaccinations so I would assume (very much just an assumption, you should double check this) that anyone registered in the National Health System with a número de utente should be eligible. As it stands, Portugal has spent €180-200 million on 22 million doses of various vaccines, including 6.9 million from AstraZeneca, 4.5 million from Pfizer and 1.8 million from Moderna.
REMINDER: Don’t forget the local travel ban is in place from 11pm tonight until 11.59pm on Tuesday, with shops and restaurants closing at 3pm on Monday and curfew in place from 1pm on Tuesday in very high and extremely high risk councils. More information here.
State of emergency renewed
The state of emergency framework will continue essentially unchanged until January 7, with the government to define any new restrictions on Saturday, Público reports. The presidential decree, which lays the legal groundwork for pandemic measures that might not otherwise be possible, was passed by the Council of Ministers this afternoon. The renewal is aimed at continuing to reduce the rate of new cases, hospitalisations and deaths. The new state of emergency period will last until December 23 but already previews a renewal until January 7 to cover the Christmas and new year period. Prime Minister António Costa says there is potential for a slight loosening of restrictions for Christmas but only if the pandemic is properly controlled by then, Público reports. Any relief would likely only be minor and short-lived, such as allowing people to travel between councils even across the public holidays. Experts warned allowing family reunions across the country would increase the spread of the disease, which would need to be controlled. But, speaking after and during Thursday’s semi-regular meeting of scientists and politicians, they were unanimous in saying they thought the vaccine would help prevent a third wave next year.
Given the possible new measures on Saturday, I’ll likely put out the normal Monday email on Sunday like I’ve done a couple of times recently.
The peak has passed, experts say
It’s official. Well, as official as you can be with data like this during a rapidly evolving pandemic. Experts believe the peak of this deadly second wave has already passed, earlier than expected, Público reports. The bad news is they expect hospitalisations and deaths to keep rising for a while yet. Epidemiologist Manuel Carmo Gomes said daily confirmed cases topped out around November 18-20, meaning the peak of the spread (people getting each other sick) would have been about four days earlier. It naturally follows that the famous R(t) number has also dropped and is back below 1 for the first time in a long while. Nationally, it’s at 0.99, which means each patient infects 0.99 people on average, meaning the number of people infected is shrinking, but only at the slowest possible speed. It’s 0.96 in the North, exactly 1 in the Centre and the Lisbon and Tejo Valley region, 1,08 in the Algarve and 1.12 in the Alentejo. Epidemiologist Baltazar Nunes said the weekend-based restrictions contributed significantly to the reduction. Professor Carmo Gomes said his projections showed if people maintained the same level of discipline and restrictions, it would be possible to reach Christmas with fewer than 2000 cases a day, Lusa reported.
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In brief
Infarmed recomenda a não utilização de máscaras do fabricante Shantou T&K Medical. No masks from the company, alleged to have not properly complied with EU rule, have been found in Portugal but they could make it here from other EU countries. (Lusa)
Snow suspends classes and closes roads in Montalegre, Portugal (Lusa)
Economists criticise budget's rigour, transparency and accountability. Budget Watch also dinged the budget for a lack of information about discretionary spending and the impact on inequality.
TAP will suspend company agreement with workers. An airline workers union said it would impact the work-life balance of cabin crew. (Público)
More holidays and money for health personnel who fight covid-19. The new law enters into force today, months after it was meant to come into force, in August. (Público)
Madrid cancels New Year’s Eve festivities (Dinheiro Vivo)
On a lighter note
A new group of six young chefs are doing things a little differently in Portugal, trying to leave behind the stereotype of angry, misbehaving chefs and long hours that destroy your life, Diário de Notícias reports. They’ve been dubbed New Kids on the Block and Step by Step they’re Hangin’ Tough, convinced they’ve got The Right Stuff to succeed by cooperating instead of fighting against each other. (That’s the end of the bad song puns, I promise. Even the chefs admit the moniker is corny, not to mention copyrighted) Anyway, they all have fine dining experience but want to bring their food to the masses instead and have been doing some cool things like the awesome Friendly Fircollaborations at Chapitô à Mesa, in Lisbon’s Alfama district. Sounds like they’re worth keeping an eye out for.
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