Six months since the pandemic arrived in Portugal // It’s your ‘civic duty’ to download StayAway Covid
Portuguese news in English on September 2, 2020.
By the numbers
The North is back in the pandemic spotlight after recording almost as many cases as the Lisbon and Tejo Valley region over the past week. Health Minister Marta Temido said the region was again demanding the attention of the authorities, amid a national increase in cases dating back about a week. Active cases have risen for 18 days in a row now but hospitalisations and numbers in intensive care are remaining fairly steady, even falling slightly today. For those of you watching the seven-day infection rate per 100,000 the UK seems to mostly base its quarantine decisions on, that’s sitting at 22.9 today, slightly out of the 20/100,000 safe zone.
Six months since the pandemic arrived in Portugal
It feels much shorter (or longer, I really can’t tell anymore) but today marks six months since Portugal recorded its first two COVID-19 cases. Público has marked the occasion with 16 things that changed and a host of names that emerged, sometimes from relative obscurity, to guide us through. Can you remember a time when you’d go a day without hearing “masks”, “new normal”, “immunity”, “teleschool” or “telework”? TV shows and concerts without audiences, sporting stadiums without fans and workers in sectors as diverse as tourism and performance needing government help to pay the bills. Yep, a lot has changed. You’ve probably also heard more about these people than you ever expected (use this as a cheat sheet if you ever need to impress a local): Director-General of Health Minister Graça Freitas, Health Minister Marta Temido, Secretary of State for Health António Lacerda Sales and the comedian Bruno Nogueira, whose live Instagram broadcasts seemed to captivate the whole country.
It’s your ‘civic duty’ to download StayAway Covid
The Covid-tracing app has been officially launched and any problems with installing it onto devices with foreign accounts seem to have been ironed out. Now the government is urging iPhone owners to head to the App Store and Android users to visit the Google Play store to get the app downloaded and set up. Prime Minister António Costa went as far as to say it was a “civic duty” to download the app and use it to signal if you have been diagnosed with COVID-19, Diário de Notícias reported. According to the StayAway Covid website, the app uses Bluetooth Low Energy to monitor close contacts so it doesn’t need personal data and shouldn’t chew through your battery. The makers say the more people use the app, the more effective it will be.
People are getting weird seeds in the mail
Don’t open them, don’t plant them and don’t throw them in the bin. That’s the message from Portugal’s Agriculture Minister, Maria do Céu Antunes, to anyone receiving weird seeds in the mail from Asia, Lusa reports. She said they could be contaminated, warning they could cause serious problems, such as the current pandemic, and urged recipients to deliver them to authorities. When this phenomenon was first reported in Australia I assumed it was just people being caught ordering marijuana seeds by mail and refusing to own up to it but it’s also been reported in the US and other European countries.
In brief
Decision on crowds returning to football stadiums postponed. It will be considered after students go back to school. (Diário de Notícias)
Communist Party keeps selling Festa do Avante! tickets above occupancy limit. Many of the tickets are just for fundraising and the party guarantees the limit will be respected.
Students must keep three metres apart in physical education classes (Diário de Notícias)
Large antibody study offers hope for virus vaccine efforts (Washington Post in English) (Full New England Journal of medicine study here)
Teachers’ union delivers strike notice for first days of classes (Lusa)
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On a lighter note
If September means one thing (it doesn’t, lots of stuff happens in September), it’s harvest time. The Douro Valley is beautiful at any time of year but when the vindimas (harvest) come around, Time Out likes to think it takes on a new life entirely. This year Quinta Nova de Nossa Senhora do Carmo has a special program for visitors to pick grapes and do tastings with food pairings. The package is pretty pricey (€150) but Portugal by Wine seems to have some much cheaper options in the Douro, Alentejo and other regions.
Photo: Jorge Branco
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