COVID-19 | Daily Update

Monday, July 6th | COVID-19 Daily Update

CURRENT OUTLOOK

The number of people infected by COVID-19 in Portugal rose to 44,129, an additional 232 in the last 24 hours (+0.53%), according to the epidemiological report released by the Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS).  

The data also reveals the occurrence of six deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 1,620 fatalities (+0.37%).  

It should be noted that of the 232 new cases, 195 are from Lisbon and the Tagus Valley. 

The number of recovered rose by 149 since yesterday, totalling 29,166 (+0.51%).

 

PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL

The first phase of national secondary school exams starts today with the Portuguese exam for 12th-grade students, in a process that involves more than 150,000 students enrolled for this month’s exams. 

The National Commission for Access to Higher Education approved the decision that confirms an exceptional regime for students infected with COVID-19 or in quarantine.

This morning the Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs met with the teams created in Amadora to combat COVID-19.

In Caldas da Rainha, an outbreak of COVID-19 was detected in a nursery school after an outbreak of the disease was confirmed in a nursing home in the city, said the mayor, Fernando Tinta Ferreira.  

In Paredes, four dozen students from Gandra’s Polytechnic and University Higher Education Cooperative were placed in quarantine after it became known that they had contacted a colleague who tested positive for the coronavirus.  

The Mayor of Paços de Ferreira, Humberto Leão de Brito, has already advanced that the outbreaks in a basic school and factory in Eiriz “are not connected”.

 

PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD

An investigation published by the Sunday Times revealed that China was storing a virus found in 2012 similar to SARS-CoV-2 in the laboratory of the Wuhan Institute of Virology. 

In the US after Trump was criticized for making little or no reference to the new coronavirus pandemic at the opening of the Independence Day celebrations, which in the United States broke the record for infected the day before, the president redeemed himself in the official message yesterday. 

This was the day that 40,030 infected by COVID-19 were registered and raised the total number of confirmed cases to 2,876,143, according to a report by Johns Hopkins University.

Concerning new cases and deaths of COVID-19 in the world, Brazil has already registered a total of 1,603,055 confirmed cases of infection and 64,867 deaths according to the latest data update carried out this Sunday by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. 

In Africa, the death toll has risen today to 11,360, another 274 in the past 24 hours, and there are more than 476,000 infected.

India has overtaken Russia and became the third country with the highest number of cases after having, in the last 24 hours, 24,248 newly identified infections, bringing the total to 697,413 cases, while Russia registers another 6,611 new cases and increases the total number of cases of the disease to 687,862 in the country.

 

MEDICAL PROGRESS

Technology has been instrumental in overcoming some of the obstacles generated by the coronavirus pandemic. MIT created a robot that, using ultraviolet light, is capable of disinfecting large spaces such as warehouses, for example, in about 30 minutes.

 

ECONOMIC IMPACT 

Retail sales increased 17.8% in the Eurozone (EU countries which have the Euro as currency) in May and 16.4% in the European Union in May, with the easing of COVID-19 containment measures, after two months of severe declines, according to Eurostat.

After the pandemic, Lisbon Mayor Fernando Medina wants an end to Airbnb accommodation in Lisbon. In an opinion article, the mayor of the capital city sustains the creation of homes for essential workers from Airbnb accommodations.

The pandemic forced the creation of new social benefits, which at times proved insufficient. In the meantime, new steps have been taken by the Government and Parliament, namely through the supplementary budget approved on Friday and which will now have to be promulgated and published in the Official Journal.

 

FINANCIAL MARKETS 

The Portuguese stock exchange opened today’s session with the PSI-20 rising by 0.88% to 4,444.04 points and the majority of those quoted with a positive sign. 

In Europe, there are even more marked gains with the Amsterdam and Paris stock exchanges increasing by about 2%.