Vaccine certificates only valid nine months without booster // Self-tests accepted for big events
Portuguese news in English on Friday, January 14, 2020.
By the numbers
The TL;DR is huge numbers of cases and lots more people in hospital but with only a few more deaths and COVID-19 patients in intensive care. You can compare the two charts below to see. But while still manageable, ICU numbers have started to increase in the last few days. And, as always, there’s a lag because it takes some time for COVID-19 sufferers to get sick, go to hospital, end up in the ICU and die. About 90% of the population is fully vaccinated and a little more than a third has had a booster shot, Público reports.
Check out what restrictions have been relaxed this week here.
Vaccine certificates only valid nine months without booster
Portugal’s EU Digital COVID Certificates have been updated to include booster information, Público reports. From February 1, the certificates will only be valid for nine months (counted from the date of your second shot, or only shot of Janssen) for travel across Europe, and likely rules within countries too. After that, you’ll need a booster dose registered for the certificate to be valid. The time period reflects growing scientific evidence that vaccine protection wanes significantly after six months, the European Commission explains, in English. There’s no validity period for the booster dose as yet, given scientists don’t really know yet how protection will wane.
Boosters available for over-45s
The vaccine portal is now open for everyone aged 45 or over to get boosters but there are fears the process will now drag into summer, Diário de Notícias reports, because so many people are missing jab appointments through infection or self-isolation. Infected people have to wait five months after recovery for their booster. There are no plans, as yet, to give booster shots to kids, Lusa reports. And in case after all of this you’re still thinking about delaying your boost in wait for an Omicron-specific version of the jab (CNBC in English), experts tell CNN Portugal it’s better not to. For one, the European Medicines Agency says the booster already gives 90% protections from hospitalisation and secondly, Institute of Molecular Medicine researcher Miguel Prudêncio points out you’ll be waiting months, not weeks.
Self-tests accepted for big events
Things have settled down a bit since Christmas and the new year but it can still be hard to book a pharmacy test at a convenient time. Fortunately, self-tests taken at the door and supervised by a worker will be accepted for entry into large (500+ inside or 1000+ outside) sporting, cultural, corporate and other events, Público reports. There’s a big testing campaign underway as kids go back to school but Público reports, it’s focusing on 220,000 teachers and other workers, leaving out 1.2 millions students. Asked about the lack of testing for students, the government pointed to the four monthly tests available in pharmacies.
SEF ‘enables’ automatic renewal
The Immigration and Borders Service (SEF) has made a couple of changes that should hopefully make things a lot easier for some of us. First, it has enabled (fixed) automatic renewal for people with permits set to expire between January 1 and March 31, according to the department’s Facebook page, which has instructions for accessing the service in your SEF personal area. It has also, Lusa reports, opened up “open house” access throughout the whole country to change your details for the SAPA and ARI (gold visa) portals. That means you can show up to an office without an appointment to change those specific details. In not so good news, there are massive delays for those looking to be granted Portuguese citizenship, Diário de Notícias reports. It’s taking nine–11 months for requests to start getting analysed, something that should happen within 30 days. Another 109,000 people were granted residency in Portugal last year, close to the number seen in 2019, before the pandemic, Diário de Notícias reports. It brings the total number of cidadãos estrangeiros (foreign citizens) to 771,000, almost double the figure from 2015.
Ruling Socialist Party leading polls ahead of election
If you’ve turned the TV on at all this week there’s a good chance you’ve seen a debate in the lead-up to the January 30 national legislative elections. There are 30 of them in total between a wide variety of party leaders. Incumbent Prime Minister António Costa’s centre-left Socialist Party has a lead in the polls, Reuters reports, in English. The latest survey gave the ruling party about 40%, with about 30% to the main opposition, the centre-right Social Democratic party.
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In brief
South Africa receives extradition request for Portuguese fugitive João Rendeiro. The high-profile former banker, sentenced to several years in jail, has been in jail near Durban since being captured months after leaving Portugal. (Público)
Some airlines fighting fines for carrying passengers without a negative test. Portuguese authorities caught people without a negative test on 227 flights operated by 29 airlines. (Público)
Hospitals struggling to fill shifts with so many workers infected thanks to infected workers. Hospital administrators suggest boosted workers could keep working even if infected. (Lusa)
Portugal could decarbonise its bus fleet within 14 years for €2.6 billion. The CleanBusPT study found half the cost would be spent in the normal replacement of the fleet, leaving the effective cost of going carbon-free at €1.3 billion, saving 4 million tonnes of CO2. (Dinheiro Vivo)
On a lighter note
Sometimes it rains. So it’s a good thing Portugal is chock full of museums to drag our lazy arses away from Netflix when we can’t go to the beach or indulge in a luxurious, sun- and wine-drenched lunch. It’s also good because powerful art in well-curated exhibitions can make us think and feel things we couldn’t otherwise but I’m being realistic about our motivations here. Anyway, Público has put together a preview of some of what to expect this year in the country’s most respected institutions. The José de Guimarães International Centre for the Arts in (you guessed it) Guimarães will showcase an interplay of contemporary art and ritual African objects, exploring the increasingly vital subject of how to look at the masses of objects on show in Europe taken from former colonies and other parts of the world. The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation is commemorating the 100-year anniversary of the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb and the Museum of Art Architecture and Technology and Culturgest also have big plans. Porto’s Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art is yet to announce its 2022 program.
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