Vaccines: AstraZeneca approval, check when your jab is due // Portugal takes over European Presidency
Portuguese news in English on December 31, 2020.
By the numbers
Well, all the numbers have been heading in the right direction while I’ve been away from you, as Público notes. Weekly deaths, new cases and hospitalisations have all been tracking slowly but surely downwards. But we were warned Christmas would likely lead to new cases and, right on cue, yesterday brought the highest number of new cases in a day since December 5. Here’s hoping that number doesn’t rise too much further.
Figures from December 30. Source: DGS
I’m sending this today because I assume no one wants to bother with news on New Year’s Day. Here’s your guide to all the restrictions for Christmas, NYE and everything else. See you Monday!
Vaccines: AstraZeneca approval, check when your jab is due
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine has been approved for use in the UK but will take a while longer to make it to Europe, Público reports. The European Medicines Agency says it needs more scientific information to complete its assessment, noting that interim results from a large-scale trial in the US are expected in the first quarter of this year. Vaccination started in Portugal and the rest of Europe earlier this week using the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Another shot using a similar technology, from Moderna, is due to finish evaluation on January 6. The rollout here is taking place in three different phases (December 5 newsletter) and the government has released a tool to check when you’re due to receive your shot. Residents in about 150 nursing homes and continued care units in councils at “extreme risk” of coronavirus transmission are expected to get their first jabs next week, Público reports. While not as effective as the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, the AstraZeneca option is very important because it’s much cheaper and can be stored at much warmer temperatures, making it critical for poorer countries. You can read more about that at The Conversation (in English).
Portugal takes over European Presidency
Portugal has taken over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, starting a six-month term that will be dominated by the pandemic, Lusa reports. After German Chancellor Angela Merkel described the coronavirus crisis as the central challenge of her country’s presidency, Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa said the economic and social recovery was his first priority. That recovery would be based heavily on the climate and digital transition, through the creation of more and better jobs. The second would be the development of Europe’s Pillar of Social Rights, followed by the strategic autonomy of a Europe “open to the world”. You can read more about the rotating presidency and Portugal’s priorities here.
Alleged SEF murder victim’s family to get hundreds of thousands of euros
The family of Ihor Homeniuk, the Ukrainian allegedly murdered in Immigration and Borders Service (SEF) custody, will receive roughly €834 million from Portugal, Diário de Notícias reports. The Ombudsman’s decision takes into account the victim’s “cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment” when he was allegedly beaten to death in the SEF facility at Lisbon Airport on March 12. The family will receive immediate compensation of €712,950, with another €50,000 to his father and the rest going to a schooling fund for his two children. It recently emerged that the doctor who performed the autopsy on Mr Homeniuk had his contract torn up at the end of November, Diário de Notícias reports. Carlos Durão’s immediate reporting to the Judicial Police of signs of potential foul play has been lauded for bringing the death to outside attention. The Portuguese National Institute of Legal Medicine and Forensic Sciences said the contract termination had nothing to do with the doctor’s report but was instead the result of an article published in a scientific journal that showed a body’s face, allowing their identification. Experts told Diário de Notícias this was a serious ethical breach.
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In brief
Gang used Lisbon restaurants to traffic drugs, with the help of cops. Gang members dressed as police to steal drugs from rival gangs and the whole thing is linked to a restaurant famous for charging tourists “stratospheric” prices for off-menu items. (Público)
WHO warns Covid-19 pandemic is 'not necessarily the big one' Experts tell end of year media briefing that the virus is likely to become endemic and the world will have to learn to live with it. (The Guardian)
On a lighter note
It looks like the “punched” potatoes (batatas a murro) that come with the outrageously delicious polvo á lagareiro (olive oil maker’s octopus) aren’t the eight-legged beauty’s only link to fighting. In the words of Portuguese octopus researcher Eduardo Sampaio ”Octopuses punch fishes. YES. OCTOPUSES. PUNCH. FISHES!!” Apparently, as he explains on Twitter, octopuses and fish are known to hunt together and the punches seem to be a way of controlling the fish, such as if they’re getting a bit greedy. Diário de Notícias has more information on the phenomenon in its report or you can find a link to the whole thing in the researcher’s tweet thread.
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