COVID-19 | Daily Update
April 13, 2020
Wednesday, April 13th | COVID-19 Daily Update
CURRENT OUTLOOK
The Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS) announced today 535 deaths and 16.934 confirmed infections with COVID-19 in Portugal. In the last 24 hours, the number of deaths has increased from 504 to 535 (+31, a growth rate of 6.2%), while the number of infected persons has increased from 16.585 to 16.934, (+349, a growth rate of 2.1%).
The number of recovered cases is 277 (unchanged in the last 24 hours).
PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL
The Portuguese Army transported yesterday 15 tons of personal protective equipment from China to the Ministry of Health’s Strategic Reserve.
In Portugal, the Cascais Municipality is standing out in response to the pandemic, accounting for more than half of the +13.5 million euros spent so far by municipalities.
The Independent Doctors Union considers that the use of a protective mask is essential to stop the spread of the new coronavirus.
The president of the National Association of Public Health Doctors, on the other hand, argues that the excess deaths that will have occurred in March, in comparison with what would be expected that month, can be attributed “without a doubt to the context of the pandemic”.
PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD
The USA recorded 1.514 deaths in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of deaths due to COVID-19 to 22.020. The Calamity Status has been declared in all 50 states.
In China, 108 new cases of infection have been recorded, including ten from local contagion, which is the highest number since the 28th of March.
In the last 24 hours, Spain registered 517 deaths due to the new coronavirus, a decrease from the previous day, with a total of 17.489 deaths so far. There are 3.477 new ones infected, and a total of 169.496 confirmed infections.
In Germany, and according to the Robert Koch Institute today, the number of people infected with COVID-19 cured in the last 24 hours (4.000) has exceeded the number of new infections (2.537).
Yesterday, Italy announced 431 deaths in 24 hours, the lowest daily number in three weeks.
According to the balance sheet released by French news agency AFP at 7 pm yesterday, the pandemic killed at least 112,510 people worldwide, having infected more than 1,800,000.
MEDICAL PROGRESS
The WHO announced that there are 70 vaccines against the new coronavirus to be developed worldwide, with three of them at an advanced stage, since they are already being tested in humans.
Australian scientists are “just weeks away” from completing clinical trials of research to find procedures for the early diagnosis of COVID-19 and treatment that reduces its lethality.
In Israel, the Migal institute, which is looking for a vaccine for a virus similar to COVID-19 that strikes chickens, is making the necessary adaptations to begin testing in humans within two months.
Another strategy involves the BCG vaccine. The relationship between mortality and morbidity associated with COVID-19 and the regions where there is a strategy for this vaccination is being studied by several teams of researchers.
At the University of Cambridge, in the United Kingdom, a team of scientists is working on a tool that could allow the diagnosis of COVID-19 at an early stage of the disease and no need of resorting to medical tests but only to record the sound of a cough.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
The Portuguese Statistics Bureau (INE) informed today that annual inflation was nil in Portugal in March. Already reflecting the impact of coronavirus in the country, especially in fuels, prices remained at the same levels last month compared to the same period last year.
The Portuguese Government decided to double the value of the credit lines to support companies because of the pandemic. The global amount grows from three billion euros to 6.2 billion, with one of the four lines being adapted.
Health professionals, entrepreneurs, and businessmen sent a letter to the Portuguese President of the Republic, the President of the Parliament and the Prime Minister, in which they call for the controlled return to economic activity and suggest a series of measures such as the widespread use of masks and smart technologies to control a new wave of infections by COVID-19.
