COVID-19 | Daily Update

Monday, June 22nd | COVID-19 Daily Update

CURRENT OUTLOOK

 The Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS) said today that in the last 24 hours there have been four more deaths and 259 new cases of COVID-19 infection in Portugal. 

The daily epidemiological report indicates that fatalities increased from 1,530 to 1,534 (+0.26%), while the number of infected people rose from 39,133 to 39,392 (+0.66%). 

The number of people recovered increased from 25,376 to 25,548, plus 172 (+0.68%).

 

PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL

The Prime Minister, António Costa, met this morning with the mayors of the five municipalities in the metropolitan area of Lisbon that motivate greater concern due to the high number of new cases of COVID-19 in recent weeks. 

The Prime Minister admitted the creation of a “punitive framework” for those who organize and participate in illegal parties and gatherings and again called for compliance with all safety rules.

The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, warned that this is the phase of deterring and appealing to reason, but that if necessary, tougher measures will be taken in certain locations to prevent gatherings due to the pandemic.

Portugal believes that the borders with the Schengen Area will reopen on July 1st. Foreign Affairs Minister Augusto Santos Silva reaffirmed that Portugal is one of the countries that has one of the best control of the pandemic and where more tests are being done.

Infeciologists warn of the increase in serious cases among younger people. The medical doctor Isabel Aldir acknowledged that there are worrying warning signs and stressed that the virus is not having the favourable evolution that specialists foresaw in the community.

The Mayor of Ovar, Salvador Malheiro, questioned through his official Twitter account the reason why a sanitary fence in Lisbon has not yet been decreed, since it is the capital that has received the most attention from the DGS, with hundreds of COVID-19 cases confirmed daily.

The Hospital de Santa Maria is receiving younger patients and even so with less severe manifestations of COVID-19. A situation that is worrying doctors.

The PSP (Portuguese police) is increasingly being called on to demobilize young people at parties, due to the rules established because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Experts point out that the danger of contagion is real, even outdoors.

 

PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD

The COVID-19 pandemic has already claimed at least 465,300 deaths worldwide since the first outbreak was declared last December, according to an AFP news agency balance sheet yesterday from official sources.

The United States has recorded an additional 304 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, reaching 119,959 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to a report by Johns Hopkins University. The US President’s request for health officials to do less testing of COVID-19 yesterday sparked criticism from his Democratic opponents.

This Sunday Brazil surpassed a total of 50 thousand fatalities. The data released by the Brazilian Ministry of Health indicate that 17,459 positive cases and 641 deaths were diagnosed in the last 24 hours.

The death toll in Africa has passed 8,000, plus 190 in the past 24 hours, and there are already 300,000 cases, according to the most recent data on the continent’s pandemic.

Mexico surpassed 180,000 cases and 21,000 deaths yesterday after authorities announced 5,343 contagions and 1,044 deaths in the last 24 hours.

China has diagnosed 18 new cases since yesterday, including nine in Beijing and seven coming from abroad.

 

MEDICAL PROGRESS

Antivirals “don’t seem to work” to fight the new coronavirus, reports a study by the Spanish Society of Hospitals Pharmacies. On the contrary, corticosteroids administered to patients from the first week of hospitalization reduced mortality by up to 50%.

Researchers from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto will study the immune system response of patients with COVID-19 to try to predict and stratify the “risk” of the infection, act preventively, and avoid “fatal outcomes”.

 

ECONOMIC IMPACT

The combined current and capital account balance recorded a deficit of 864 million euros until April, including a month and a half of COVID-19 in the country, a value more than four times higher than the negative balance of 201 million registered in the same period in 2019.

Until next September 30th, families that have lost income due to COVID-19 cannot have cuts in water, electricity, or telecommunications services. But for that, they must send companies a declaration that proves a drop in household income of at least 20%.

The data released by the IEFP (Employment Agency) show that at the end of May there were 408,934 unemployed in Portugal, 103,000 more than in the same month last year.

There are wine producers who didn’t sell one single bottle since March and who guarantee that they will not be able to survive without State support. Frederico Falcão, president of Viniportugal, says that there are hundreds of micro, small and medium-sized companies from the wine sector that are “suffocated”.

The new coronavirus pandemic is leaving its mark on all sectors of the economy and real estate is one of the most affected. The number of sales is falling sharply and the new lease contracts are no exception, according to the latest data released by INE (Portugal Statistics Bureau).

The United States “is welcome” to resume, when it wishes, negotiations on the digital tax, said the European Internal Market Commissioner, Thierry Breton, after the announcement of a “pause” from Washington on this topic.

The pandemic sparked an unbridled race for bicycles, by those who found themselves deprived of the gym, by those fleeing public transport or by families, as a way to keep children active during confinement.

 

FINANCIAL MARKETS

The Portuguese Stock Index PSI-20 started the week on the negative ground, opening today’s session to lose 0.73%, to 4,428.75 points. 

The Portuguese stock exchange trades in line with the main European markets.