Older people guaranteed vaccine priority after controversy // Reminder: Local travel ban starts tonight
Portuguese news in English on November 27, 2020.
By the numbers
The number of covid-19 patients in ICU has reached another record. The average number of new daily cases is slightly lower than a week ago, despite today’s high number. Unfortunately deaths are still high, as are hospitalisations. The north is still recording more than half of all new cases but the impact is being felt all over the country, even on the autonomous islands. Two covid-19 patients died yesterday in the Azores, where there hadn’t been a death in months, and two died in Madeira earlier in the month.
Source: DGS
Reminder: Local travel ban starts tonight
Don’t forget the local travel ban is in place from 11pm today until 5am on Wednesday, December 2. Concert tickets in a neighbouring municipality no longer give you permission to travel but work and health appointments still do, with proof. If your local council area is considered a very high or extreme coronavirus transmission risk, you’ll be subject to curfew on Saturday, Sunday and the Tuesday public holiday and most businesses must close at 3pm on Monday. You can get more detail in my November 22 newsletter. You can find the majority of the state of emergency measures in English here but they’re a little out of date and don’t mention any of the special public holiday restrictions coming up. While I’m on vaccines, the New York Times reports concerns from some experts about the reliability of some of the data from the AstraZeneca/Oxford trial.
Older people guaranteed vaccine priority after controversy
The government has promised to prioritise older people in the vaccination process, after a preliminary proposal from experts suggested healthy residents over 75 could be left out of early plans, Lusa reports. The proposal from a Directorate-General for Health-nominated group of specialists placed those between 50 and 75 with serious illnesses at the front of the queue, along with nursing home residents and workers, and certain health professionals. Security and civil protection forces would be next, along with those in the same age group with chronic illnesses. Those above 75 were left out of the immediate plan because neither the vaccine makers or the European Medicines Agency had shown enough evidence of the effectiveness of proposed vaccines for anyone older. But the Health Ministry quickly clarified that the document in question hadn’t been fully discussed and was “merely technical” in nature, with only partial and out-of-date information. President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Deputy Health Minister António Lacerda Sales and Prime Minister António eCosta all lined up to criticise the proposal, Lusa reported.
Government still trying to ramp up ICU capacity
As the number of covid-19 patients in intensive care continues to grow, the government is trying to expand the country’s ICU capacity, Público reports. Health Minister Marta Temido said December would be another extremely difficult month and didn’t rule out more severe restrictions. She said health professionals were managing ICU occupancy on a day-to-day basis, with 589 beds available for covid-19 in the first phase. That number could go as high as 1000, she said, but it would leave ICU beds to spare for only a handful of issues, such as coronary, burns and neonatal. The private sector had made 112 ICU beds available, the Minister said, adding that the country’s ICU capacity in March was only 431.
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In brief
Opposition parties block €476 million capital injection in Novo Banco Finance Minister João Leão said the country wouldn’t renege on commitments made as part of the bank's sale in 2017. (Reuters, in English)
Cop called Cova da Moura bashing victims 'criminals' and drug dealers. The Court of Appeal upheld the convictions of eight officers over the bashing of six young black men in Lisbon’s outskirts. (Diário de Notícias)
Greater Lisbon Navegante passes to stay the same price next year (Lusa)
Fines for using your phone while driving more than double. Fines of €120 are now €250. (Diário de Notícias)
On a lighter note
Good news for you, my dear readers, although possibly not if you’re trying to learn Portuguese. The Portuguese are the seventh-best speakers of English in the world (outside of English-speaking countries), according to the Education First English Proficiency Index. It’s the country’s best ever result and puts it behind only the Netherlands, Nordic countries and Austria. Porto ranks ninth in terms of cities — ahead of Lisbon at 14 — with Copenhagen, Amsterdam and Helsinki at the top.
Please keep sharing on Facebook, in real life or anywhere else you see people a bit confused by the latest news.