COVID-19 | Daily Update

Tuesday, July 14th | COVID-19 Daily Update

CURRENT OUTLOOK

The number of people infected by COVID-19 in Portugal rose to 47,051, an additional 233 in the last 24 hours (+0.50%), according to the epidemiological report released by the Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS). 

The data also reveals the occurrence of six deaths from yesterday to today (+0.36%), bringing to 1,668 the total number of fatalities from the new coronavirus in the country.  

A total of 485 people recovered were also recorded (+1.56%), having increased the number of people recovered to 31,550.

 

PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL 

The Government will keep all restrictions in the Greater Lisbon Area because it considers that there are still no conditions to mitigate the measures imposed due to the pandemic. 

Today, the coordinator of the Lisbon and Tagus Valley ARS for COVID-19 spoke of small positive signs of stabilization. Rui Portugal guaranteed that, in the 19 parishes that remain in a state of calamity, there is now a decrease in cases of contagion. 

Duarte Cordeiro, coordinator appointed by the Government to fight the pandemic in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, considers that conventional responses to COVID-19 in the Lisbon region have proved to be insufficient. 

Meanwhile, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Augusto Santos Silva, demanded yesterday that Belgium remove Alentejo and Algarve from the list of areas considered risky, subjecting travellers from these regions to “greater surveillance”.

Also yesterday, the Secretary of State for Health said that the preparation of the plan for the winter is already underway, with the reinforcement of human resources, the installed capacity of hospitals, vaccination, and the testing network.  

António Lacerda Sales also explained that the tools used to analyze and treat data related to those infected with COVID-19 are being subjected to a “deep intervention”, to reduce the “possibility of errors”. It was also revealed that eight out of ten health professionals infected with COVID-19 have recovered.

Between January and June of this year, there were, in the Portuguese NHS, 8.112 million hours more than the normal working hours, 1.173 million more hours than in the same period of 2019. Almost half of the hours of this overtime work (470 thousand) were carried out only in May.

 

PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD 

The World Health Organization (WHO) warned yesterday that “too many countries are going in the wrong direction” when it comes to combating COVID-19. According to the organization’s director-general, “the actions of many people and governments” and the “contradictory messages” coming from heads of state and other leaders are “undermining” the efforts to control the pandemic.

As for the data on the new coronavirus in the world, Brazil recorded 733 deaths due to COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, totalling 72,833 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic, the Government said today, adding that it is still investigating the connection of 4,011 fatalities with the disease. 

The United States, on the other hand, registered 59,222 new cases of COVID-19 and 411 deaths, bringing the total number of infections to more than 3.35 million since the beginning of the pandemic. 

At the same time, Mexico recorded 4,685 new cases and 485 deaths in the last 24 hours, totalling 304,435 infections and 35,491 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. 

In Europe, the Robert Koch Institute has announced that, in the last 24 hours, 412 new cases and four more fatalities have been diagnosed because of COVID-19 in Germany. The country now registers a total of 199,375 infected and 9,068 killed, while the number of recovered people already exceeds 185,000. 

In England, the use of face masks inside stores and supermarkets will become mandatory from July 24th. The use of a mask in stores is already mandatory in Scotland and several European countries, but the British Government has been hesitant to impose its use.

In Africa, the death toll has risen to 13,456 today, up 218 in the last 24 hours, with almost 611,000 cases. 

India recorded 28,498 new cases of COVID-19 and 553 deaths, bringing the total number of infections since the beginning of the pandemic to 906,752, which caused more than 23,000 deaths. 

China, on the other hand, recorded three new cases of COVID-19, all imported from abroad in the last 24 hours.

 

MEDICAL PROGRESS

The United States believes it will start making a vaccine against COVID-19 in four to six weeks, with the vaccine expected to be available in late summer.  

However, clinical trials of a vaccine developed in Russia are completed, according to Sechenov University, which also said that the country plans to start distributing the drug next August. 

A study by King’s College London shows that immunity to COVID-19 could only last a few months. This means that anyone who has already been infected may be infected again, just like the most common flu.

 

ECONOMIC IMPACT 

The Government and the social partners are meeting today to discuss social support for the resumption of business and work, after the constraints caused by the pandemic. 

At the European level, conversations about addressing the impact of the pandemic go on. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said yesterday that she does not know whether “we will reach an agreement” on the economic stimulus package to combat the pandemic. 

Companies that ask for extraordinary support for the resumption of activity will have the IEFP’s response within a maximum period of ten working days and may take longer if additional information is needed. 

Almost half of the workers (45%) in the Autonomous Region of Madeira are unemployed or in lay-off, with tourism being the sector most affected. 

In the beverage sector, beer and wine producers are facing a crisis. The drop in sales created storage difficulties, so thousands of litres have already been spoiled, because of expiration dates.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) reduced growth forecasts for the Middle East to the lowest level in more than 50 years, due to the “double shock” of low oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic.  

Singapore entered a recession for the first time in more than a decade, with economic activity falling 41.2% in the second quarter, compared to the previous quarter, according to preliminary data released today.

 

FINANCIAL MARKETS

The Portuguese Stock Index PSI-20 lost 0.90% this morning, to 4432.7 points, in line with the main European markets. 

At that time, investors proved to be conservative, after the closing in the red of Wall Street and Asian markets, registered yesterday, following the increase in the number of cases of infection by COVID-19, which put the economic recovery in perspective.