COVID-19 | Daily Update

Wednesday, April 14th | COVID-19 Daily Update

CURRENT OUTLOOK

The Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS) today informed about the registration of 567 deaths and 17.448 confirmed infections with the new coronavirus in Portugal.

In the last 24 hours, the number of deaths went from 535 to 567 (+32, a growth rate of 6%), while the number of infected has increased from 16.934 to 17.448 (+514, a growth rate of 3%).

The number of recovered cases is now 347.

There are 1.227 people hospitalized, 218 of them in intensive care units.

 The North region has now 10.302 cases of confirmed infection, accounting for almost 2/3 of the national total

 

PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL

In an interview at Rádio Observador, the Portuguese Prime Minister considered today that Portugal will have to live with the virus in the coming months and, therefore, may be “at multiple speeds” due to “different regions, different sectors and people with different risk levels ”. António Costa also spoke about the economic impact of the pandemic (see in the dedicated area below).

Yesterday, the Government and the DGS advised the widespread use of masks by the Portuguese when in crowded spaces indoors.

Also yesterday, the Minister of Internal Administration announced that the Portuguese borders with Spain will remain closed and controlled by the police of both countries.

Eduardo Cabrita also admitted that the state of emergency should have a third renovation. Meanwhile, the Portuguese Government has already delivered to the Parliament the report on the first period of the state of emergency.

Today the third school term starts, but most students will no longer return to school and will continue to study at a distance, at their homes.

According to an estimation made by the British Imperial College, Portugal may already have between 67,000 to 149,000 of total people infected with the new coronavirus, most of them unreported.

 

PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD

The WHO director-general warned that COVID-19 is ten times more deadly than the 2009 flu pandemic, calling for caution in countries that want to ease restrictions. Today, new indications must be known in the strategy to fight the pandemic.

In the USA, 1.509 deaths due to the new coronavirus were recorded in 24 hours. The total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in that country has risen to 23.529.

In the UK, authorities announced yesterday that the death toll had risen to 11.329, with another 717 deaths in 24 hours. The total number of contagion cases increased to 88.621.

In Spain, 567 deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours, with a total of 18.056 deaths so far. There are 3.045 new ones infected, the lowest number in recent weeks.

In Germany, a new number of new cases cured (about 3.600) was higher than the number of new infections (2.082) in the last 24 hours. In total, the country now has a total of 125.097 diagnosed cases, 2.969 fatalities and 68.200 people considered cured. 

In France, President Emmanuel Macron announced yesterday that the confinement will last until the 11th of May.

According to an AFP (French news agency) report, at 7 pm yesterday, the pandemic has killed 117.752 people and has infected almost 1.9 million worldwide since last December.

 

MEDICAL PROGRESS

China has already started clinical trials in humans for two possible vaccines against the new coronavirus, the local press reported today. These are two inactivated vaccines, consisting of microorganisms produced by the inactivation or death of the virus during the manufacturing process.

Another vaccine, developed by Advent-IRBM in Italy, in cooperation with the Jenner Institute, at the University of Oxford, will begin testing in late April in humans.

In Brazil, a study in patients infected with the new coronavirus was stopped after the patients had taken a high dose of chloroquine that caused them to have irregular heartbeats.

 

ECONOMIC IMPACT

In an interview with TVI TV, the Portuguese Finance Minister revealed yesterday that the Government’s estimations point to a 6.5% impact on GDP for every 30 business days that the country is stopped due to the pandemic. Mário Centeno even admitted that, in the second quarter, the annual variation of GDP concerning the previous year will fall “four to five times the maximum that we have ever seen GDP to fall in any quarter in Portugal”.

This possibility was considered “a bomb” by the president of the Portuguese Banking Association, in an interview with RTP 3 TV. Faria de Oliveira said that the crisis “cannot fail to affect the banking system”.

Today, the Portuguese Prime Minister is meeting, by videoconference, with 25 economists and academics “on the current and future economic and financial situation”, addressing “measures to promote the relaunch of economic activity in Portugal”.

According to the first results of the survey prepared by INE (Portuguese Statistics Bureau) and BdP (Bank of Portugal) to monitor this crisis, released today, 2% of companies had already closed definitively in early April. ACAP (Auto Dealers Association) said that car selling in Portugal fell 46.1% in March when compared to the same month of 2019, as a result of the economic impact of the pandemic.

In France, the Economy Minister said that emergency measures to deal with COVID-19 will involve “more than 100 billion euros”, with GDP expected to drop by 8% in 2020.

The IMF (International Monetary Fund) today releases its forecast for the world economy for this year, with an economic recession expected in the face of the consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak.

 

FINANCIAL MARKETS

The Portuguese Stock Index PSI-20 opened the first session this week on positive ground, rising 1.75% and moving towards the fifth consecutive session on the green side.

The Lisbon Stock Exchange thus followed the positive trend observed in the rest of Europe. Stoxx-600 appreciated 1.16%, Ibex-35 added 1.10%, CAC-40 advanced 0.23% and DAX grew 1.24%.