COVID-19 | Daily Update

Wednesday, May 9th | COVID-19 Daily Update

CURRENT OUTLOOK 

The Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS) announced today that in the last 24 hours there have been 12 more deaths and 138 new cases of COVID-19 infection in Portugal.  

According to the epidemiological bulletin, the number of fatalities rose from 1,114 to 1,126 (+1.08%), while confirmed cases increased from 27,268 to 27,406 (+0.51%).

The number of people recovered is currently 2,499, (+3.18%) meaning 77 more than yesterday.

 

PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL

For three consecutive days, Portugal has recorded a greater increase in new cases of COVID-19, which now stands at 520 notifications.

DGS attributes this increase to the improvement of testing capacity. 

Hospitals are also restarting their activity, maintaining part of the medical appointments at a distance, but resuming priority surgeries and exams, with newly defined circuits. 

António Pais Martins calls into question the opinion that more ventilators are essential. This specialist in intensive care recognizes the ability to manage the pandemic and the number of patients admitted to the Intensive Care Units but warned of a “second wave” that will come and that will put the country to the test.

The Health Regulatory Authority has already started to notify the municipalities that have built field hospitals or response screening centres to COVID-19 to enrol them in the Regulated Establishment Registration System. Registration fees vary between 1,000 and 50 thousand euros. 

The Government wants to fix COVID-19 infection control measures with companies from the Azambuja logistics platform, where an outbreak with more than a hundred cases is causing fears of spreading to warehouses of large wholesale companies nearby such as SONAE and Auchan. 

Almost two-thirds of the Portuguese agree with the option of establishing the state of calamity to deal with the pandemic crisis, according to a study by Eurosondagem.

The police will continue its “pedagogical” action to raise awareness of compliance with the rules still in force. Fences, drones, apps and security are the measures that are being studied for access to the beaches, preventing them from being a new source of the spread of the disease.

 

PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD

The World Health Organization (WHO) needs an additional 1.2 billion euros to finance itself and implement its strategic plan against the COVID-19 pandemic, Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus said yesterday. 

The new coronavirus pandemic has killed 271,780 people and infected nearly four million worldwide, being diagnosed in 195 countries and territories since the epidemic began, according to an AFP (French news agency) report.  

The death toll in Africa has soared to 2,151 today, with almost 58,000 cases of the disease reported in 53 countries. 

Germany recorded another 1,251 new cases from yesterday to today, bringing the total number of infected people to 168,551. A further 103 deaths were reported, with 7,369 being the total number of fatalities in the country. 

In Belgium, the number of new cases and deaths due to COVID-19 have dropped.

Spain recorded 179 deaths and 604 new positive cases with the disease in the last 24 hours, a relevant reduction compared to yesterday, maintaining the downward trend of the past few days.

An internal report by the Spanish Army predicts that the country will be plagued by two more waves of COVID-19 and that it should only return to normality within one year to one and a half years. 

Donald Trump also admits that “possibly” the country could suffer a new wave next fall, but the American President says the vaccine is unnecessary. “This will disappear without the vaccine. After a while, it will disappear and it won’t come back ”, he guaranteed.

In the last 24 hours, the US recorded 1,635 deaths, bringing the total number of deaths to over 75,000.

Today, Brazil has surpassed the barrier of 700 daily deaths associated with the new coronavirus and has registered a total of 9,897 fatalities since the beginning of the pandemic. There are 10,222 new people infected, totalling 145,328 people diagnosed with the disease.

In South Korea, two days after the government lifted restrictions, the biggest increase in cases appears, after a new outbreak of infection, related to nightlife, has been identified.

 

MEDICAL PROGRESS

The WHO revealed yesterday that COVID-19 causes, in addition to respiratory complications, inflammatory reactions in the cardiovascular and brain systems.

A Portuguese biochemist warns that there may be no vaccine for COVID-19 despite efforts. Rushing to a vaccine can have consequences in health, warns biochemist Miguel Castanho. The scientist points out that if there is one within two years, it will be an “extraordinary feat”.

The director of the Infectious Services of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário de São João admits to proceeding with a scientific study on the sequelae that COVID-19 left in recovered patients. 

 

ECONOMIC IMPACT

António Costa believes that the financial crisis resulting from the pandemic will be paid for “by everyone’s effort”, but he argued that Portugal could leave this period “in better circumstances” than those it entered.

The Portuguese Prime Minister stressed the need for a European response to the financial crisis arising from the pandemic. On the day that Europe Day is celebrated, which marks the 70th anniversary of the Schuman declaration, the President of the Republic assumes that the demonstration of “solidarity” will be decisive in the future of the European project, following the calls of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, in that sense. 

Yesterday, Eurozone finance ministers agreed on the maturity of loans from the European Stability Mechanism.

Countries can borrow with maturities of up to ten years in financing that may reach a maximum of 2% of their GDP in 2019.

For Portugal, the value would be around four billion euros.

The president of the Eurogroup considers the current crisis caused by the pandemic to be a human tragedy and defended the need for a “powerful plan” to recover Europe.

Mário Centeno guaranteed that Portugal will be able to receive around one billion euros in aid to finance the labour market

The European Commission has already committed EUR 1.9 billion in state aid from the Member States to their economies, to resolve urgent liquidity difficulties in the EU.

The UK wants to impose a 14-day quarantine on anyone travelling to the country. The airlines have already started to be warned and restriction should take effect at the end of this month.

The Portuguese Government will extend the suspension of flights outside the EU until 15th of June, following the proposal presented yesterday by the European Commission. The Government announced that it is working so that emigrants can travel to Portugal in summer, by land, remembering that European airspace remains open. 

In Portugal, one in four people whose household earned up to 650 euros has lost their income by 100%  since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey by the National School of Public Health.  

The study concludes that the pandemic unevenly affects counties in Portugal, as well as counties that have a more precarious socio-economic context.

 

FINANCIAL MARKETS

The Portuguese Stock Index PSI-20 ended yesterday’s session on positive ground, with an increase of 0.42%, following the trend of the main European markets.

Wall Street ended the week marked by a gradual lack of confidence in some North American states and in most European countries.

This was a positive week for the main North American indexes, which gained between 3% to 5%.

Yesterday, the three main indexes registered significant gains.