COVID-19 | Daily Update

Wednesday, May 3rd | COVID-19 Daily Update

CURRENT OUTLOOK

The epidemiological bulletin released today by the Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS) indicates that a total of 1,689 people are considered recovered (+1% since yesterday).

In the last 24 hours, 20 people died and 92 were confirmed as new cases of COVID-19 infection in Portugal.

The number of deaths increased from 1,023 to 1,043 (+2%), while the number of confirmed cases rose from 25,190 to 25,282 (+0.4%).

 

PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL 

The Minister of Health was yesterday in the Jornal da Noite (SIC TV), where she did a review of the last two months and an analysis of the new measures of deconfinement announced by the Government. 

Since midnight today, Portugal is no longer in a state of emergency, having passed to a “calamity situation”. During this period there will be a “civic duty for home confinement”. 

In Madeira, the authorities announced the lifting of the sanitary fence in the parish of Câmara de Lobos. 

From tomorrow onwards, public transport will have to circulate with a maximum capacity of two-thirds of its total capacity, and users must wear a face mask.

Taxis and electronic platform vehicles (such as Uber) will have to transport passengers in the rear seat only, while also taking care of frequent air renewal and cleaning. 

The Champalimaud Foundation and the Gulbenkian Institute of Science will conduct serological tests on doctors, nurses, and operational assistants. 

A study by the Institute of Public Health at the University of Porto, on the other hand, found that about half of the tests for COVID-19 had a positive result in people not showing symptoms or that did not have any “risk” contacts.

 

PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD

Six European leaders want the online conference scheduled for tomorrow to raise € 7.5 billion for the global fight against COVID-19. This should be just the beginning of the ACT Accelerator initiative and will serve to quickly develop “diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines”.

The WHO guarantees that the new coronavirus has “natural origin” and praised the way China has managed to fight the pandemic. 

Brazil in the last 24 hours registered 421 deaths and 4,970 new confirmed infections.

In the United States, 1,453 people died in the last 24 hours, bringing the death toll to more than 66,000, with over 1.3 million people infected since the beginning of the pandemic.

In Spain, the Prime Minister announced this morning that the country has registered 164 more deaths caused by COVID-19, the lowest number since March 18th. 

Germany also recorded fewer deaths: 74 deaths were announced and a further 793 confirmed cases.

This trend was also registered in Belgium.

On the opposite side, Russia saw the biggest daily increase in infections yesterday. With further 10,633 new cases, the total number of patients rose to 134,686.

According to an AFP (French news agency) balance sheet released at 8 pm yesterday, the pandemic has already killed at least 241,682 people and caused 3,398,390 confirmed infections worldwide.

 

MEDICAL PROGRESS

The American President announced yesterday that the antiviral Remdesivir has received an “emergency authorization” from the US Federal Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.  

Donald Trump added that the drug has a promising behaviour and will only be used in hospitals, in critically ill patients.

 

ECONOMIC IMPACT 

The Portuguese Government launched a program to support the resumption of activity by micro-enterprises, which provides for non-refundable subsidies of up to 80%. The amounts can go up to 5,000 euros, for investments to create sanitary conditions appropriate to the pandemic. 

The Government will also increase the number of beneficiaries of Social Insertion Income, proceed with the distribution of 90,000 food baskets in May, and another 120,000 in June.

The Government announced today that deconcentrated public services, such as tax offices and official registration offices, will open again tomorrow. However, service will be provided only through a pre-booked appointment and mandatory use of a social face mask. 

Also today, the Economy Minister said that Portugal is producing one million face masks a day and is starting to export.

According to an analysis by the Strategy and Studies Office of the Ministry of Economy, if they had only the money they have in cash or bank deposits, 25% of Portuguese companies would not be able to pay more than a month’s wages during a total stoppage of their activity.

The European Commission recommends that, when flights are resumed, passengers should wear protective equipment such as social face masks, but waives the rule of placing empty seats to ensure physical distance, recognizing that this affects the viability of operations.

The Portuguese Minister of Economy considers that a “single European rule” is necessary for the occupation of aeroplanes.

The Commission expects that there will be “some form of tourism” in the summer in the European Union, although limited due to the pandemic.