New national lockdown ‘probable’, PM says // Weekend travel ban for whole country, curfew for most
Portuguese news in English, on Friday, January 8, 2021.
By the numbers
Two numbers jump straight out at us today. Yesterday (9927) was the second worst day we’ve seen for new confirmed cases, beaten only by Wednesday (10,027). As respected epidemiologist Henrique Barros tells Público, we still don’t know if this is a ricochet or a trend that’s here to stay. But the Directorate-General of Health has confirmed the cases are all current, not the result of test-processing or result-recording delays over the festive period. The past two days have also brought slight increases in both deaths and hospitalisations. One expert tells Diário de Notícias to expect effects from these two days to be felt in hospitals in about eight to 10 days’ time, with 10% ending up in hospital and 3% in ICU.
New national lockdown ‘probable’, PM says
Portugal could be facing a new lockdown similar to what occurred in March — but with schools remaining open — unless daily case numbers drop significantly, Diário de Notícias reports. No decision will be made until Tuesday but Prime Minister António Costa has already described the scenario as “probable”. He said expert advice indicated school closures would not be justified. The Prime Minister said he still had hope the 10,000-odd daily cases in recent days were an “adjustment” that would not continue but warned next week was “very likely” to bring stricter measures. Mr Costa, who meets with party leaders today and tomorrow, said the next five days would allow time to form a clearer picture of the state of the pandemic here.
Weekend travel ban for whole country, curfew for most
The state of emergency has been renewed and severe restrictions placed on most of the country for this weekend after a huge spike in cases, Lusa reports. Everyone (except for the regular exceptions) in continental Portugal is banned from leaving their council area from 11pm today until 5am on Monday and a weekend curfew is in place in all but a handful of municipalities. Previously the weekend curfew only applied to very-high and extreme-risk councils. Now the only councils to escape the 1pm curfew on Saturday and Sunday are the 25 considered at moderate risk of infection thanks to having fewer than 240 cases per 100,000 people per fortnight, which include Lagoa, Sines and Vila do Bispo. The full list of councils has been updated and is available here in order from moderate risk (risco moderado) to extreme risk (risco extremamente elevado). The number of councils at extreme risk has almost doubled and Lisbon and Porto remain at very high risk.
The state of emergency, which authorises restrictions that might otherwise be illegal, now extends until at least January 15. Exceptions to both the curfew and travel ban include working (with proof), health and other unavoidable emergencies. A full list is available here in English but please note that it’s totally outdated in regards to which council areas are affected.
Struggling hospitals brace for ‘brutal impact’
Portugal’s public hospitals are already reaching their contingency plan red lines, amid fears this week’s increase in patients will have a brutal impact in eight to 10 days time, Diário de Notícias reports. Experts have advocated strict lockdown measures and warned deaths could increase if the elderly are not vaccinated. Non-urgent care has been suspended at Coimbra’s university hospital, Guarda’s hospital is full and 10 patients had to be sent from central Lisbon to other areas on Sunday due to a lack of space. All hospitals in the Lisbon and Tejo Valley region have been told to raise contingency plans to the maximum level. Portuguese Intensive Care Society president João Gouveia said no health service could withstand 10,000 cases a day, warning ICUs were already at 94%.
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In brief
Chilly temperatures to drop even further. Minimum temperatures close to zero or below are predicted in almost the whole country on Monday and Tuesday. (Público)
President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa says there's no need to delay presidential elections. (Diário de Notícias)
Curfew and school closures for São Miguel (in the Azores) from Friday
On a lighter note
It’s that time of year again and I don’t know about you but I’ve been combing the best of lists for things I missed throughout the year. Here’s one I’ve only just discovered: the Best Portuguese albums of 2020, according to Time Out. I’ve actually struggled to discover as much Portuguese music as I’d like to so I’m really looking forward to checking it out. The publication’s number-one pick is B Fachada’s Rapazes e Raposas (boys and foxes), which it describes as having one foot in tradition and one in modernity. Fans of dancier stuff could try Benjamin’s Vias de Extinção (endangered, kind of), the number-two pick.
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