COVID-19 | Daily Update
June 24, 2020
Wednesday, June 24th | COVID-19 Daily Update
CURRENT OUTLOOK
The Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS) announced today that in the last 24 hours there have been three more deaths and 367 new cases of COVID-19 infection.
According to the daily entity’s epidemiological bulletin, the number of fatalities rose from 1,540 to 1,503 (+0.20%), while confirmed cases increased from 39,737 to 40,104 (+0.92%).
The number of people recovered increased from 25,829 to 26,083, another 254 (+0.98).
PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL
Currently, young people dominate the new cases of the disease, but contagion has also risen in the elderly.
The rules tightened in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, which continues to record the highest number of cases, and shopping centers are already protesting.
In Porto, there have been no new cases of COVID-19 for 16 days, but even so, the São João popular festivities are not celebrated.
Former Education Minister Nuno Crato believes that students most affected by distance learning will need “special care” at the beginning of the next school year, to recover from the constraints of the third period caused by the pandemic.
After yesterday the Minister of Justice announced that 42 of the 49 prisons are already prepared to resume visits to prisoners, the president of the Union of Prison Guards confirmed today that two cooks and an assistant who works at the Caxias prison hospital are infected with the new coronavirus.
Diabetics and hypertensive individuals now have a special regime that allows them to justify absences whenever they cannot be working remotely, as they are considered risk groups in the COVID-19 pandemic.
PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD
The European Union (EU) is considering a ban on US citizens entering its territory. According to the list of travellers who will be allowed in European territory, Russian and Brazilian citizens may also be forbidden.
Amnesty International today reports that European police have shown a “disturbing pattern of racial prejudice” in attempts to enforce the rules of confinement under COVID-19, applying disproportionate violence to ethnic and marginalized minorities.
Animal rights activists want to take advantage of the concern with COVID-19 to pass legislation that prohibits the food consumption of “companion animals”.
Germany today registered 587 new cases of COVID-19 and the Minister of Health, Jens Spahn, asked the population of two locations that are again in confinement to respect the restrictions to avoid further contagion.
France recorded 57 deaths yesterday. The country is approaching 30,000 deaths, of which more than 19,000 occurred in hospitals.
The United Kingdom and Australia are concerned about a second wave, due to the increase in daily cases.
The death toll in Africa has risen to 8,618, an additional 284 in the past 24 hours, in some 324,000 cases, according to the most recent data on the continent’s pandemic.
The US recorded 842 deaths since yesterday, reaching 121,176 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, according to a report by Johns Hopkins University.
MEDICAL PROGRESS
A vaccine against COVID-19 may not work in elderly people who are at greater risk of becoming seriously ill, say some scientists. This can mean that the solution may involve immunizing other people around them, such as children.
Chinese state pharmaceutical Sinopharm will start phase three of clinical trials in the United Arab Emirates for a possible vaccine for COVID-19.
The vaccine against the new coronavirus, which is being developed by the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom, has started to be tested in Brazil, the second country with the highest number of infections and deaths caused by the pandemic.
The Russian Ministry of Defense is testing a vaccine against SARS-CoV-2. For now, the tests aim to assess its safety. It will take more time to assess effectiveness and immunity.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
INE (Portuguese Statistics Bureau) today releases the first official figure for the deficit found in national accounts, 1.1%, but for the year as a whole, there are forecasts for all tastes.
The Portuguese advertising market is going through a complex moment, at a time when companies are struggling against the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and, therefore, reducing advertising budgets.
The Hotel, Restaurant, and Similar Establishments Association of Portugal yesterday revealed that it did not agree with the restrictive measures in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, arguing that the reopening of bars and clubs may be the solution for youth gatherings.
FINANCIAL MARKETS
The Portuguese Stock Index PSI-20 opened today with a loss of 0.02% to 4,448.80 points, on a day when new cases of COVID-19 worldwide are driving investors back.
The main European stock exchanges opened lower today due to persistent investor fears about the increase in COVID-19 cases in some countries.
The London, Paris, and Frankfurt stock exchanges were down 0.81%, 1.12% and 0.67%, respectively, as well as the Madrid, which fell 0.24%. Milan was the exception, as it advanced 0.13%.
