COVID-19 | Weekly Update
September 18, 2020
Friday, September 18th | COVID-19 Daily Update
CURRENT OUTLOOK
According to today’s epidemiological bulletin, in the last 24 hours, there were six more deaths and 780 new cases of COVID-19 infection in Portugal, ten more than yesterday, showing a rising trend and giving warnings about the possibility of hitting the 1000 new cases per day over the next week if the situation remains unchanged.
The Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS) reports that the number of fatalities increased from 1,888 to 1,894, while confirmed cases increased from 66,396 to 67,176.
As for the number of recovered, it increased from 44,794 to 45,053, 259 more than yesterday.
PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL
Portuguese Prime-Minister António Costa called today for an urgent office meeting to monitor the evolution of COVID-19 in Portugal. The meeting comes as a result of the “continuous increase” of new daily cases of infection and the need to “reinforce citizens’ awareness of the adoption of preventive and safety measures.”
Mário Jorge Santos, a specialist in Public Health, warns that the contingency plan for the winter should have already been approved.
According to an Aximage survey, 43% of respondents give the Government a positive rating in the management of the pandemic, but a majority (56%) disapproves of the State intervention in nursing homes.
PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD
The COVID-19 pandemic has infected more than 30 million people worldwide, according to the latest AFP news agency balance sheet.
More than half of the confirmed cases are located in the USA (6,650,570 cases and 197,364 deaths), in India (5,118,253 registered infections and 83,198 deaths), and in Brazil (4,419,083 cases and 134,103 deaths), the three most affected countries by the new coronavirus.
Israel is now returning to confinement to try to contain the current outbreak of COVID-19 because there are currently more than 46,000 active cases in the country.
In Europe, the United Kingdom is the country with the highest number of deaths. Official data released yesterday indicate that 3,395 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded, with 381,614 confirmed positives, and a total of 41,705 deaths, after adding 21 between Wednesday and Thursday.
Spain is also at the epicentre of the pandemic again, with the Madrid community alone registering 1,301 new infections yesterday, 2,850 hospitalized, and 30 deaths.
As for France, it registered 10,593 new cases in the last 24 hours, a new record of positive cases in a single day.
Italy has 1,585 new cases of infection and 13 deaths associated with the new coronavirus.
MEDICAL PROGRESS
The European Commission (EC) today confirmed its participation in the COVAX mechanism for equitable access to vaccines against COVID-19 at affordable prices.
AstraZeneca’s report confirmed that a volunteer developed transverse myelitis after receiving the second dose of the vaccine, which forced the suspension of tests.
Meanwhile, the American biotech company Moderna, one of the nine in the world in the last phase of clinical trials of a vaccine, released a complete trial protocol yesterday, being the first company to respond to calls for greater transparency.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
The Canadian rating agency DBRS is expected to comment on Portugal’s rating today, after maintaining in March the one of “BBB”.
The coincident indicators for economic activity and private consumption worsened slightly in August, compared to July, according to data released this Friday by the Bank of Portugal (banking supervisor agency).
FINANCIAL MARKETS
The PSI-20 started the last session of the week to fall 0.1% to 4,282.48 points, with six prices rising, seven falling, and five unchanged.
The main European stock exchanges also opened lower today, pessimistic in the absence of additional measures by the central banks of the USA, Japan, and the United Kingdom to face the COVID-19 pandemic.
The London, Paris, and Frankfurt stock exchanges fell 0.54%, 0.42%, and 0.11%, as well as those in Madrid and Milan, which depreciated 0.97% and 0.49%, respectively.
The Tokyo Stock Exchange closed today’s session on a high, with the Nikkei gaining 0.18% to 23,360.30 points. The second indicator, Topix, rose 0.49%, to 1,646.42 points, in the last transactions of the day.
