COVID-19 | Daily Update

Wednesday, May 8th | COVID-19 Daily Update

CURRENT OUTLOOK

The Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS) announced today that, in the last 24 hours, there were nine more deaths and 553 new cases of COVID-19 infection in Portugal. 

According to the epidemiological bulletin, the number of fatalities rose from 1,105 to 1,114 (+0.8%), while confirmed cases increased from 26,715 to 27,268 (+2.07%). 

The number of people recovered is currently 2,422, 164 more than yesterday (+7.26%).

 

PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL

The Lisbon region reported in the last few days the highest number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.

DGS admits that this may be a result of tracing, but the trend is being analyzed.

Yesterday, the director-general of Health admitted extending the tests to COVID-19 in schools, and the guidelines for restaurants and coffee-shops are already known, to ensure that the transmission of the disease is minimized when they resume activity.

A COVID-19 risk scale is being developed for use in NHS hospitals, starting with the Ovar hospital.

However, most NHS hospitals will keep more than half of the external medical appointments in the non-face-to-face model, that is, by telephone.

The creation of separate circuits is the sign of a return to “normality” at Hospital São João.

More than two months after the first case of COVID-19 was detected in Portugal, the hospital has already performed 33,601 tests for the new coronavirus. 

The Health Regulatory Authority says that private healthcare providers have to ensure that costs related to treatments for COVID-19 are anticipated. The position comes after these providers charged users for the personal protective equipment used.

It will be submitted today to Infarmed, a request for tests on people for a lung ventilator developed in Portugal. A total of 100 ventilators have been made and raised 1.85 million euros in donations for this project, which was presented today to the Prime Minister.

On the occasion, António Costa indicated that Portugal cannot be dependent on foreigners to get essential materials to fight the coronavirus. “If everything goes wrong, there will be no shortage of ventilators,” he said.

 

PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD

The AFP (French news agency) balance sheet indicates that 266,919 people have died worldwide due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has already infected more than 3.8 million people. 

In Spain, the number of fatalities rose, with 229 more deaths, and the number of infected people increased to 222,857, meaning 1,410 more than yesterday.

In the last 24 hours, in Germany, more than 1,209 new cases were registered, with a total of 167,300 people infected with the new coronavirus in the country. 

Belgium recorded a drop in the number of new cases of COVID-19 to 591, now presenting a total of 52,011 cases of contagion. 

From yesterday to today, 178 more people have died in France. So far, there are 137,779 cases of infection in the country. 

In Brazil, there is a new daily record since the beginning of the pandemic. The country registered 615 deaths and 10,503 new ones infected. 

On the other hand, China has recorded one single case of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours. This new case is a local contagion and was detected in a province bordering Russia and North Korea.

UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to trigger “a tsunami of hatred and xenophobia”.

 

MEDICAL PROGRESS

Portugal will participate in clinical trials of vaccines against COVID-19, promoted by the European Medicines Agency and the World Health Organization (WHO). 

A team of researchers in the US predicts that the pandemic could last between 18 and 24 months and outline three possible scenarios for the global coronavirus outbreak. 

The virus that causes COVID-19 can be found in the semen, according to a small study by the Shangqiu Municipal Hospital in China, which has not concluded whether or not the sexual transmission is possible. 

Hong Kong scientists warn of the risk of contagion through the eyes.

A French researcher excludes a synthetic origin of the new coronavirus but says that no one can understand how it appeared and then infect millions around the world.

 

ECONOMIC IMPACT

The Government’s measures to combat the pandemic have reached 12.7% of GDP, totalling 1.9 billion euros, according to the Stability Program, approved yesterday by the Ministers’ Council.

Mário Centeno, the Finance Minister, argues that the priority for Portugal in this phase of a pandemic crisis is not the total bill, but he believes that the economy and society should reopen so that the country can return to the values of the period before COVID-19.

The Minister of Economy, on the other hand, admits that the banking sector is “greatly cushioning the impact of this crisis”.

New support for self-employed workers and managing partners was announced by the Ministry of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security.

In a joint text, signed by Minister Ana Mendes Godinho, together with her counterparts from Spain and Italy, the creation of a European minimum income system is advocated, calling for solidarity as a vehicle to minimize the crisis caused by the new coronavirus.

In Portugal, in the first month of social confinement, there was an increase of 34% in the number of newly unemployed, compared to the previous year.

The salaries of private-sector workers had a greater increase than that of the public at the start of the year, compared to the same period in 2019, according to INE (Portuguese Statistics Bureau) data.  

Data for March indicate that exports dropped 13% and imports 12% with the arrival of COVID-19.

The Eurogroup is discussing today the European response to the crisis, now having the European Commission macroeconomic forecasts, which anticipate a record contraction this year in the Eurozone.

China and the US reaffirm that they are in a position to put the first phase of the economic and trade agreement on the ground, despite tensions raised by the pandemic.

 

FINANCIAL MARKETS

European stock exchanges are trading on the positive ground today, leveraged by the implementation of the US-China trade agreement.

In this context, Stoxx 600 rises 0.8%, while French CAC-40 gains 0.79% and Spanish IBEX adds 1.08%.

The German DAX recorded an increase of 1.17%. In Lisbon, the PSI-20 follows the trend of European counterparts and grows 1.06%.