COVID-19 | Daily Update

Wednesday, May 26th | COVID-19 Daily Update

CURRENT OUTLOOK

The data released today by the Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS), in its daily epidemiological bulletin, indicate that in the last 24 hours, 12 more deaths and 219 new cases of COVID-19 infection were registered in Portugal. 

The number of fatalities rose from 1,330 to 1,342, while confirmed cases increased from 30,788 to 31,007. 

The number of people recovered increased from 17,822 to 18,096.

 

PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL

Today the new contingency rules for Portuguese beaches come into force. Dealers can start preparing for the bathing season, which starts on June 6th.

The Secretary of State for Health said yesterday that “to deconfine is not to relax” and “to normalize is not ending with self-responsibility”, adding that on Sunday 60 ventilators from China arrived in Portugal.

The recovery of flights operated between Lisbon and Funchal by Easyjet will only be dependent on passenger demand as of July 1st. Lufthansa says it will fly back to Faro in mid-June.

The Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Manuel Heitor, considered yesterday that education “lives from the interaction between people”, ruling out the possibility of distance learning to replace the face-to-face model in Universities in the post-COVID-19 period.

 

PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD

The president of the French National Assembly and the German counterpart are due to publish today a joint appeal for the reopening of borders between European countries, indicates a statement obtained by AFP (French news agency).

Ryanair will resume flights to Europe from the 1st. of July after Spain announced that it would remove restrictions from that date, similar to Italy, Cyprus, Greece, and Portugal that are preparing to reopen their hotels and beaches for the main holiday season in July and August. 

According to data released by the Robert Koch Institute today, 432 new cases were reported in Germany and another 45 deaths in the last 24 hours. 

Brazil recorded 807 deaths and 11,687 infected by the new coronavirus since yesterday, and the possible relationship of 3,742 deaths with COVID-19 is still being investigated, informed the Brazilian government.  

The United States, on the other hand, recorded 505 deaths, bringing the total number of deaths to 98,184 since the beginning of the epidemic in the country, and the number of confirmed cases is now 1,662,375, with another 21,403 new infections, said Johns Hopkins University.

The President of the Timorese Republic today asked the National Parliament for authorization to extend the state of emergency due to COVID-19 for another 30 days, but with fewer restrictions. 

Also, the President of Guinea-Bissau, Umaro Sissoco Embaló, extended today, for the fourth time, the state of emergency in the country. 

The executive director of the World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies program warns that “we cannot assume [that the number of new infections] will continue to fall and that we will have a few months to prepare for a second wave”. Hours earlier, the director of the organization’s Department of Public Health had said that a second major wave of the new coronavirus was “increasingly” unlikely but advised a lot of caution.

 

MEDICAL PROGRESS 

Thailand will begin testing a vaccine in monkeys hoping to commercialize it at the end of 2021, the researchers responsible for the scientific project said today.

COVID-19 patients are no longer able to infect others after 11 days of infection, even if they continue to test positive for the disease, indicates a national study in Singapore, which also points out that the transmission of the new coronavirus may happen before symptoms appear, but it should be noted that the virus transmission ability is lost on the 11th day of infection.

A mysterious disease associated with the new coronavirus has been widely reported in recent weeks after countless cases have been detected in children around the world. The pathology is described as an inflammatory syndrome, similar to Kawasaki’s disease and toxic shock syndrome.

 

ECONOMIC IMPACT

The moratorium period is in effect in Portugal until the end of September, to respond to the economic crisis imposed by the pandemic. Thus, customers in difficulty to pay their expenses may see the monthly instalments postponed until next year.

About 68.8% of the companies that asked for bank support have not yet received funds and credit lines are practically exhausted, warned António Saraiva, president of the Portuguese Business Confederation yesterday, after the release of the fourth “Vital Signs” survey.  

A total of 41.7% of the companies surveyed said that they will postpone or cancel investments because of the economic effects of the new coronavirus.

The BdP (Portuguese Banking Regulator) confirmed yesterday the “unprecedented” reduction in the use of banking checks and card transactions in April, following the State of Emergency and the containment measures adopted to combat the spread of COVID-19. 

During April, only 189 new Local Accommodation units were opened, the worst result in the last 64 months. These new units correspond to the placing on the market of 656 new beds.

 

FINANCIAL MARKETS

The Portuguese stock exchange is trading higher today, with the national stock index PSI-20 appreciating 1.23% to 4,329.38 points and all listed with a positive outlook. 

In Europe, the trend is similar, with the main indexes in the region registering increases of around 1%, at a time when investors are still excited about the positive evolution of COVID-19 numbers and the hope of medical treatment being announced soon. 

As countries begin to run out of deconfinement and central banks continue to announce economic stimulus and zero interest rates, confidence in financial markets is improving, thanks to measures to support families and businesses announced by governments.