COVID-19 | Daily Update

Friday, June 12th | COVID-19 Daily Update

CURRENT OUTLOOK

In Portugal, in the last 24 hours, there was only one fatal victim and 270 new people infected with COVID-19, reveals the Portuguese General Directorate (DGS) epidemiological bulletin.  

The data released today show that the number of fatalities rose from 1,504 to 1,505 (+0,07%), while confirmed cases increased from 35,910 to 36,180 (+0.75%). 

Lisbon and Tagus Valley is still the area in the country with the highest number of cases with 246 confirmed cases. 

Another 198 recovered people were also registered, increasing the number of people recovered from the new coronavirus to 22,200 (+0.90%).

 

PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL 

Prime Minister António Costa today renewed the hope that European leaders will be “up to the challenges” that the EU faces with the response to the economic and social crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The president of the Portuguese Guild of Medical Doctors defends that the recovery of the activity due to COVID-19 requires at least 1,250 million euros (ME). Thus, Miguel Guimarães considers the reinforcement of 504.4 ME for health proposed in the supplementary Budget “insufficient”. 

Meanwhile, the Sanctuary of Fátima welcomes, today and tomorrow, the international anniversary pilgrimage of June, chaired by the auxiliary bishop of Lisbon, Américo Aguiar, the first with the presence of pilgrims since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ceremonies with people in the temples returned on May 30, within the scope of the deconfinement measures enacted by the Government.

Even so, the eve of Santo António Day (Popular Saint) is today marked by the historic cancellation of the festivities and the prohibition of traditional popular festivals, due to the pandemic. The director-general of Health, Graça Freitas, clarified yesterday that “gatherings are not allowed”, but the activity of restaurants is allowed within the already existing rules.

Portugal is currently the second country of the 27 EU members to register the largest number of people infected with coronavirus per million inhabitants, according to the analysis available at Metis, a platform developed by the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Porto and Cintesis, reporting data from several European countries.

 

PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD

On World Day Against Child Labor, the International Labor Organization says that “COVID-19 poses unprecedented risks for children’s rights, security, and development”.

Spain is now preparing for the threat of cases imported from abroad. To this end, two new measures will be applied: the control of the body temperature of several travellers simultaneously through thermal cameras and the submission of an electronic form by each passenger.

In Italy, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is being questioned by prosecutors who are investigating the fact that two cities in the province of Bergamo in Lombardy were not isolated at the start of the outbreak of the new coronavirus in the country. 

The United States recorded 941 deaths due to COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 113,774,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to the count by Johns Hopkins University. 

In the same period, Brazil recorded 1,239 deaths and now totals 40,919 fatalities since the beginning of the pandemic in the country, informed the Brazilian Ministry of Health. 

Germany recorded, in the last 24 hours, another 258 confirmed cases (a variation of 0.14%) and eight deaths (an increase of 0.09%) by COVID-19. The data was revealed by the Robert Koch Institute.

Meanwhile, the Belgian health authorities report ten new deaths from COVID-19 and 108 new cases of infection. 

A new case of local contagion detected in Beijing in the past 24 hours ended 18 days in a row with no record of local transmissions in China, the Health Commission of that Asian country reported today.

The African continent today records more than 216,000 cases of COVID-19, accounting for 5,756 deaths, 78 more than yesterday, according to the African Union’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

British scientists followed a mathematical model to conclude that new waves of the pandemic can be contained with the widespread use of face masks. But, in the scientific community, some point out flaws in this forecast.

Today, more than two dozen international humanitarian aid organizations have been “increasingly alarmed” by the US’s lack of response to the front line in combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

MEDICAL PROGRESS 

The governor of the Brazilian state of São Paulo, João Doria, yesterday announced the signing of a partnership between the Butantan Institute and the Chinese company Sinovac Biotech for testing and producing a vaccine against the new coronavirus.

In the US, the experimental vaccine against COVID-19 by Moderna biotechnology company, co-financed by the Government, will enter the third and final phase of clinical trials in July, with the participation of 30,000 volunteers, the company announced yesterday.

 

ECONOMIC IMPACT 

Income from taxes and social contributions postponed because of COVID-19 may never reach the state vaults, further aggravating the imbalance in public accounts. The warning is from the president of the Public Finance Council, Nazaré Costa Cabral.

The former Finance Minister, Mário Centeno, warned yesterday that the emergency loan to TAP airline company will entail come specific conditions if the capital injection is made using only public funds. 

The Portuguese Association of Shopping Centers has agreed with tenants various support measures worth 305 million euros, which will be granted this year, to face the crisis caused by the new coronavirus. 

Foreign students are worth around 20 million euros in annual revenue to universities and polytechnic institutes in Portugal. However, the ability to attract foreign students in the next school year is compromised since air routes are suspended because of the new coronavirus pandemic, for instance.

In April, industrial production had the biggest decline ever in the Eurozone and the EU, reaching almost 30% in the same comparison, due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Eurostat reports today.

UK GDP contracted 20.4% in April, a record monthly decline, reported the National Statistics Office. This record contraction is related to the month in which the territory was confined due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a measure imposed at the end of March. 

The United States will not shut down the economy again in the event of a second wave of COVID-19, declared the US Treasury Secretary, as cases of infected people in several southern states increase.

British Airways, EasyJet, and Ryanair have launched legal action against the British Government to remove the quarantine imposed on travellers arriving in the United Kingdom.

 

FINANCIAL MARKETS

The Portuguese stock exchange is trading at a red light for the seventh consecutive session, with the PSI-20 depreciating 1.04% to 4,310.96 points. Of the 18 companies that make up the main national index, only three are rising.

Stock exchanges on the other side of the Atlantic closed yesterday in sharp decline, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 falling by 6%, on a day when fears over the US economic recovery and the possibility of a second wave of infections prevailed.