COVID-19 | Daily Update

Wednesday, April 26th | COVID-19 Daily Update

CURRENT OUTLOOK 

The Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS) daily epidemiological bulletin released today registers more 57 recovered patients (+4.5%). The total is now 1329. 

There were 23 more deaths and 472 cases of infection with COVID-19 in Portugal in the last 24 hours.

The number of deaths rose from 880 to 903 (+2.6%) and the total number of confirmed cases increased from 23.392 to 23.864 (+2%).

 

PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL

The Minister of Health explained yesterday that the criterion was changed to declare that an outpatient is cured. Only in the case of patients who are hospitalized the rule of two tests is maintained, as stipulated in the DGS standard that comes into force next Tuesday.

The immunity level of the Portuguese population to the new coronavirus will be known in the summer with the results of the first serological study that starts in May on 2.000 people.

The suspension of authorization for nurses to accumulate functions is leaving nursing homes with a shortage of health professionals. But the Ministry of Health has already ensured that elderly people with COVID-19 in nursing homes and whose clinical situation does not require hospitalization will be monitored daily by doctors and nurses from the respective groups of health centres, and these professionals will have priority access the SARS-Cov-2 screening tests.

The state of emergency is in effect until at least May 2nd, but there are signs that the Portuguese are going out more, which put the PSP and GNR on the roads again to raise awareness among drivers. 

Miguel Castanho, the principal investigator at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, points out that the danger of the second wave of coronavirus is real, but after a second or third wave of infections, it will no longer be as serious as the previous ones if the right measures are taken.

 

PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD

According to a balance sheet by France-Presse (French news agency), COVID-19 has already caused more than 200.000 deaths and infected more than 2.8 million people in 193 countries and territories.  

The USA is still the country most affected, with 53.511 fatalities, 2.494 more than yesterday, and the infection already affected 936.293 people.

Brazil recorded 346 deaths and a new daily record of 5.514 infected, totalling 4,016 deaths and 58.509 cases of confirmed infection. 

In Europe, Spain recorded today the lowest number of deaths since the start of the pandemic, 288 in the last 24 hours, for a total of 22.902.

The number of infections in Italy also dropped yesterday, registering 2.357 new cases, but the country already counts more than 26 thousand deaths.

In France, there were more than 369 fatalities yesterday, totalling 22.614 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

China announced 11 new cases of infected people and no deaths for the 11th consecutive day.

Australia will reopen schools in May without requiring social distance and bases the decision on a study known today that demonstrates a low likelihood of transmission of the new coronavirus by children, both among themselves and to adults, based on data from the state of New South Wales.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says there is no evidence that the existence of antibodies to the new coronavirus in the blood is a guarantee that the carrier is immune and will not suffer a second infection.

 

MEDICAL PROGRESS

Apparently, the first trial conducted in China with Remdesivir, one of the most promising drugs to combat COVID-19, failed.

The outcome of the study led the WHO to announce that this drug does not work in this case, but the pharmaceutical company that produces it does not agree with that conclusion.

 

ECONOMIC IMPACT

The Portuguese President of the Republic took advantage of the closing speech at the solemn session of the 25th of April in the Parliament to alert the Government that the re-opening of the economy should be done prudently.

The salary increases for public servants promised by the Government for 2021 are dividing UGT (Workers Confederation), which admits the postponement, and CGTP (General Confederation of Workers), which maintains “all claims”.

Automotive production resumes tomorrow at Autoeuropa (VW auto plant, responsible for 1% of Portuguese exports).

The restaurants also want to reopen quickly and have proposed to the Government some rules for the post-state of emergency that include a distance between customers, disinfection, and protected employees. 

The Ministry of Labor accepts the measurement of body temperature to workers, as long as no records are kept.

A study by Oxford Economics points out that Portugal is one of the European countries where international tourism will have a major drop this year, with a 40% decrease in the number of visitors, only surpassed by Spain and Italy.  

The Spanish Government has already confirmed that it will take the minimum guaranteed income in May to three million people in a million households and Italy will start to open industrial activities on the 4th of May.

In the USA, more than a dozen states are preparing for the endo 0of the confinement this week to reactivate economies.

 

FINANCIAL MARKETS 

After the barrel of oil had been in free fall at the beginning of the week, it returned to value but registering only a partial recovery. 

Analysts guarantee that, although the trading is less volatile, it has less liquidity and is still recovering from the strong drops, having even traded in negative values of almost 40 dollars less per barrel. 

Producers are willing to pay for someone to collect the stored oil, which means that the prospects for June contracts are also bleak.