PM warns of risk of ‘even stricter measures’ // Effort to mandate StayAway Covid app use sparks controversy
Portuguese news in English on October 16, 2020.
By the numbers
I get the feeling you may have to get used to bad news in this section for at least the near future. On top of yet another new record for confirmed cases, today sadly marks the most covid-19 deaths in a single day since the end of April. The North is now pushing well ahead of Lisbon and the Tejo Valley, with more than half of today’s new cases. But it’s also a bad day for the Centre region and the Alentejo, with many more cases than we’ve gotten used to seeing there.
Graphic translation: Active, recovered, deaths, contacts under surveillance, confirmed, hospitalised, in ICU. (Yes, confirmed is at the bottom of the left column for some reason)
PM warns of the risk of ‘even stricter measures’
In a defence of the latest pandemic control restrictions, Prime Minister António Costa has warned of the risk of having to adopt “even more restrictive measures”, in the future,” Lusa reports. Mr Costa said he obviously didn’t like the new measures, specifically around masks and the covid tracing app, but the important thing was whether it was useful and necessary to control the pandemic. He said the choice was between following the new measures now to stop the spread, or having to deal with stronger measures, such as a mandatory lockdown, later on. In an interview with Público, the PM said he didn’t want to hear about a new lockdown but recognised he couldn’t exclude the possibility that the reality of a future situation would demand one. Above all, the message from the government has been that each and every one of us needs to reinforce our social distancing, hand washing and respiratory etiquette efforts. Mr Costa wants everyone to start wearing a mask on busy streets and download StayAway Covid without being forced by law. "The last thing we can imagine, I think it is unimaginable, is to adopt measures at Christmas as drastic and authoritarian as those we used at Easter in forbidding people to move from one municipality to another,” he told TVI, according to Jornal de Negócios.
Effort to mandate installation of StayAway Covid sparks controversy
Parliament will vote next Friday on whether to pass mandatory rules governing wearing masks in public and downloading the StayAway Covid app, Público reports. A proposal delivered to the Assembly of the Republic on Wednesday night would legislate fines of €100 to €500 for anyone not wearing a mask or visor in busy public places and those without the app installed at school or work, Público reports. The app element sparked widespread controversy over questions of privacy and concerns for those who don’t have a smartphone. The National Health Council, National Data Protection Commission, some constitutional experts and opposition MPS and even Isabel Moreira, an MP for the Socialist Party (PS) who proposed the law, have criticised the proposal. Even Prime Minister António Costa, who proposed the law, says he has doubts, but insists it's time to bring “a discussion that has been present in society” to the Assembly of the Republic. “It’s necessary to give this unequivocal signal,” he said. “Society needs to feel that it has to mobilise again to fight the pandemic.” For her part, Minister of State for the Presidency Marian Vieira da Silva says the government is comfortable with whatever the assembly decides about the app’s obligatoriness, Diário de Notícias reports.
First vaccines could arrive in Spring, European agency says
The first covid-19 vaccines could be approved early next year and available for high-risk populations by the spring, the European Medicines Agency says. This Reuters report, in English, cites comments EMA executive director Guido Rasi made to Italian TV station Sky TG24. “If everything goes well, in the first months of 2021, there could be three vaccines approved by EMA,” Dr Rasi said. “But everything has to go well. There’s a little hitch behind every corner.” The agency leader said it would be difficult, if not impossible, for any vaccine to be ready for use this year. The chain of reporting for the story is a little more convoluted than I’d like — Reuters is citing comments made to Sky TG24, as reported by ANSA — so there’s a chance something has been misinterpreted along the way. But Portuguese news agency Lusa, citing news agency EFE’s report of the same interview, reports more or less the same thing, including Dr Rasi’s belief that, if we’re lucky, anyone who wants to be vaccinated will be able to do so by summer.
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In brief
EU Leaders want more cooperation for testing and tracing. The pandemic was unsurprisingly a key subject on the first day of the European Council meeting. (Diário de Notícias/Lusa)
Complaints about food delivery services soar. There were about 2000 between March and September, roughly three times as many as the same period last year. (Jornal de Notícias)
Porto City Council forgoes local pandemic control measures, at least for now. Rui Moreira's council was among the first in the country to adopt restrictive measures in the first phase but this time will await recommendations from the government and health authorities.
On a lighter note
You may have noticed Portugal still makes a lot of stuff, especially when it comes to clothes and footwear. But it’s not always super easy to find local products amongst all of the Zaras, H&Ms and other massive global brands. That’s where YAO comes in, uniting more than 30 different Portuguese brands on one online platform, with free shipping across the country. YAO stands for Young Adult Outfits but nothing looks excessively youthful to my (admittedly fairly fashion-illiterate eye). Joana Rodrigues dos Santos, one of four people behind the idea, told Time Out they decided to use the growth in online shopping triggered by the pandemic in their favour, while making the most of the wave of support for local consumption. With so many brands, I’m not certain they’re all actually made in Portugal so if that’s important to you, you should double check before you buy.
Photo: YAO.
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