COVID-19 | Daily Update

Saturday, July 4th | COVID-19 Daily Update

CURRENT OUTLOOK

In the last 24 hours, the new coronavirus caused seven fatalities in Portugal, increasing the total number of deaths in the country from 1,598 to 1,605, according to the Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS) data.  

In the same period, an additional 413 infected people were registered, rising from 43,156 to 43,569 the total number of confirmed cases. 

The number of people recovered today is 348, thus increasing to 28,772 people recovered from infection with the new coronavirus.

 

PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL 

The Minister of Health announced yesterday that the country currently has 34 active outbreaks and admitted that the numbers recorded in the last 24 hours are still not what was intended.  

At yesterday’s press conference, Marta Temido said that there are almost 8,000 cases of assets in the region of Lisbon and the Tagus Valley. The minister also said that the government is “paying close attention” to cases in the nursing homes, but rejected re-suspending family visits.

There are discrepancies between the number of COVID-19 cases reported by DGS and the actual contagion of the pandemic in Portugal. 

The President of the Republic said today that the Portuguese have already supported the United Kingdom in difficult times when commenting on the British Government’s decision to exclude Portugal from the list of countries considered safe concerning the COVID-19 pandemic.

The next school year will have face-to-face classes and it will be longer, according to the Minister of Education, who yesterday announced the new rules and measures to be taken by schools from next September, due to the pandemic.

The Portuguese Nurses Union said it preferred better wages to prizes for professionals involved in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, which it claims can create “profound discrimination”.

There are thousands of essential tests for early detection of breast cancer that are not being done in the north of the country due to the closure of the disease screening units. The justification for this closure is the fact that LPCC – North (Portuguese League Against Cancer) and ARS (Regional Health Authority) did not reach an agreement to return to work, after having closed due to the pandemic.

 

PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD 

The US recorded 754 deaths and 60,383 infected (a new daily record) by COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, according to a report by Johns Hopkins University. 

Brazil has surpassed the barrier of 1.5 million diagnosed people, totalling 63,174 dead since the beginning of the pandemic, informed the Brazilian Government. President Jair Bolsonaro vetoed part of a law that stipulated the mandatory use of face masks in public agencies, stores, industries, religious temples, and closed places where there are concentrations of people. 

With the infection curve still on the rise and the return of social contact stimulated by the economic reopening in many cities in Brazil, the country could register close to 110 thousand deaths until the beginning of August, warns expert Domingos Alves.

Mexico totalled 654 deaths and 6,740 contagions from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, officials said. The country now accounts for 29,843 deaths and a total of 245,251 infections.

In Europe, Germany recorded seven deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of fatalities to 9,010. In terms of new cases, 422 more were registered, with a barrier of 196 thousand infected having been overcome.  

In the meantime, the President of the Catalan Autonomous Government has declared compulsory confinement in the Segrià region as of noon, after several outbreaks of coronaviruses in Catalonia that continue to grow in the number of infected and killed. 

The number of COVID-19 fatalities in Russia has surpassed the barrier of 10,000 deaths, after the death of 168 infected people, raising the total to 10,027. 

In Australia, regional authorities in the state of New South Wales have imposed an arrival limit of 450 passengers per day, forcing many airlines to maintain suspension of routes.

 

MEDICAL PROGRESS

A study published in the journal “Cell”, reveals that a mutation in the SARS-CoV-2 genome increased its infectious capacity, between three to nine times, becoming the dominant strain currently circulating in the world.

 

ECONOMIC IMPACT

Portugal is plunging into its worst crisis since 1928.

The public deficit will explode this year and the public debt will reach a new historical high, but the new budget keeps spending authorizations with banks as they were before the crisis caused by the pandemic.  

António Costa presented today, at the opening of the meeting of the National Committee of the Socialist Party, the main priorities of the socialists, making it clear that it is essential “to recover the economy without leaving the pandemic out of control.” 

More than 80% of the companies defend the lay-off and, among these, 77% prefer the continuity of the simplified regime, an exceptional measure to mitigate the impact of COVID-19, according to the latest survey by the Portuguese Industrial Association. 

The Prime Minister admits that TAP will have redundancies and will lose routes and planes. He says this is the price to pay to keep a company that is crucial to the country’s economy.

The AdC (Competition Authority) accused six supermarket chains and two beverage suppliers – alcoholic and non-alcoholic – of fixing the prices charged to the consumer, “a serious and wrongful practice that violates the Competition Law”, explains the authority, in a statement sent to the newsrooms.

The Dutch prime minister said yesterday that there was no need for a “crazy rush” to close the pandemic recovery fund negotiations at the next European Council and warned that “any aid from the North means reforms in the South”.

In France, the management of the Air France group announced that it plans to cut 7,580 jobs at Air France and the regional subsidiary Hop! By the end of 2022, given the impact of the pandemic.

 

FINANCIAL MARKETS 

The Portuguese stock exchange closed in the negative, as did the main European markets. 

The PSI-20 showed a drop of 0.54% for the 4,405.06 points, pressured by 12 listed in red, while only four remain in the green and two remain unchanged.  

The price of a barrel of Brent oil for delivery in September ended yesterday in the London futures market at 0.74% to $ 42.78.