COVID-19 | Daily Update

Thursday, June 25th | COVID-19 Daily Update

CURRENT OUTLOOK

 The Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS) daily epidemiological bulletin published today records another six deaths and 311 cases of infection with COVID-19 in Portugal in the last 24 hours.  

The number of deaths rose from 1,543 to 1,549 and the total number of confirmed cases increased from 40,104 to 40,415. 

The number of people recovered increased from 26,083 to 26,382, plus 299 than yesterday.

 

PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL

The Government may replace the mandatory confinement in the 19 parishes of Lisbon which are in a state of calamity. 

The decision should be taken today in the Council of Ministers. Fear grows among the inhabitants of Odivelas and the face mask has become indispensable.

A group of citizens, mainly health professionals, launched a manifesto that proposes several measures to “save the NHS”, such as strengthening investment in professionals and equipment, with priority for the most deprived regions.

An outbreak of COVID-19 was recorded at the Galé campsite in Grândola, after a party for young people aged between 15 and 20 years old. 

The general secretary of the PCP (communist party), Jerónimo de Sousa, considers that the Festa do Avante can be held safely because “another ten hectares will be used, that is, 30 hectares in total, 30 football fields for the celebration”.

Distance learning due to the pandemic has made it possible to individualize work with students, according to teachers in elementary and secondary education, who agree that differentiated monitoring will be even more important in the next school year.

 

PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD

The World Health Organization (WHO) today pointed to a “very significant resurgence” of new cases of COVID-19 in countries in Europe and an acceleration of the pandemic globally.

While some countries lift the quarantine veil, with restrictive measures that are less and less demanding in preventing COVID-19, other nations proceed with more caution.

The United States has registered an additional 756 deaths from COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, reaching 121,932 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to a report by Johns Hopkins University.

China diagnosed 19 new cases yesterday, including 13 in Beijing, it was announced by Chinese authorities.

Mexico had 947 more deaths, the second-highest daily number since the beginning of the pandemic.

In Europe, France recorded 11 deaths linked to the pandemic in the last 24 hours, putting the total number of deaths at 29,731, while the number of critically ill patients continues to decline, the French Health Directorate said yesterday. 

The Spanish Ministry of Health registered 196 new cases of infection in just one day, the biggest increase in three weeks.

Nigeria’s finance minister, Africa’s largest economy, said today that the country will not call for a moratorium on trade and bilateral debt payments, thus reversing the intention announced in March.

 

MEDICAL PROGRESS

The Medicines Authority admits that doctors are using dexamethasone, which has been proven to reduce deaths of critically ill COVID-19 patients. But newsletters on the drug indicate that it can “mask the symptoms” of the new coronavirus and even facilitate other infections.

 

ECONOMIC IMPACT

A representative of more than 500 British tourist companies showed confidence today that Portugal will be included in the first “air corridors” with the United Kingdom from the beginning of July, despite contradictory news in the British press.

The TAP aid plan was imposed by the European Commission and that the Portuguese Government sustained the “use of this temporary framework” within the pandemic of COVID-19.

The Ministry of Labor, Solidarity, and Social Security clarified yesterday that workers in lay-offs under the Labor Code will be entitled to the stabilization supplement, which will be paid in July, between 100 and 351 euros. 

Shopkeepers, on the other hand, consider it a hard blow to have to reduce office hours after opening for a week. Some stores struggle to keep workers, after three months with closed doors. 

The Liberal Initiative political party will propose an amendment to the Supplementary Budget to allow workers to, as long as the employer agrees, exchange vacation time for work with increased remuneration, accumulating the subsidy related to those days with the payment of working hours carried out.

The Web Summit will have an online version in 2020, which can be recorded in cities like Porto or Coimbra, and a live one, which will take place in Lisbon between the 2nd and 4th of December. 

Following a resolution by the Ministers’ Council on 22 June, the open-air markets in the Municipality of Lisbon were cancelled.

The European Commission today approved state aid from Germany to the Lufthansa airline group, support for the recapitalization of six billion euros and a loan with a state guarantee of three billion, given the pandemic.

 

FINANCIAL MARKETS

The Portuguese stock exchange joins European peers on negative ground, at a time when the resurgence of COVID-19 cases worries investors.

Europe stumbles on Trump and COVID tariffs and drops more than 2.5%. 

In Portugal, the interest on public debt negotiates without a defined trend in the secondary market. 

Also, the increase in inventories and COVID-19 sink oil and the euro devalues with IMF pessimism.