COVID-19 | Weekly Update
September 4, 2020
Friday, September 4th| COVID-19 Daily Update
CURRENT OUTLOOK
The Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS) today reported the existence of 406 more confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection, bringing the total number of infections in Portugal to 59,457.
According to the epidemiological bulletin, the number of fatalities from the new coronavirus in the country has increased to 1,833, with four more deaths confirmed in the last 24 hours.
It is also worth mentioning the existence of 42,576 people recovered, 149 more than yesterday.
Portugal has now over 15,000 active cases.
PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL
The Minister of Education, who met this week with the World Health Organization (WHO), said yesterday in an interview with RTP TV that he will soon present a manual with a “performance flowchart”, which defines “who has to do what” in the face of a suspected case, a confirmed case, or an outbreak in schools.
The Parliament’s Labor and Social Security Commission approved yesterday that the Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security and the Minister of Health must be heard in Parliament on the outbreaks of COVID-19 recorded in nursing homes, such as the one that happened in Reguengos de Monsaraz, Alentejo.
Today begins this year’s edition of the Avante Party! (promoted by the Portuguese Communist Party) and the DGS recommendations allow a maximum of 16,563 people per day, observing a physical distance of two meters in all spaces of the enclosure. Despite the controversy with the event, the Minister of the Presidency clarified that, in the current context, the Government cannot prevent or impose limitations on it.
PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD
The Spanish capital city, Madrid, announced that it will implement new measures to combat the contagion of COVID-19, limiting gatherings in public and private spaces to ten people, after Spain yesterday accounted for 8,959 new cases in just 24 hours.
France yesterday surpassed the 300,000 positive cases of COVID-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, after registering more than 7,000 cases for the second consecutive day. Four days after the beginning of the school year in the country, 22 schools were closed because cases of COVID-19 were detected, the French Minister of Education said today.
Italy registered 1,397 new COVID-19 infections yesterday and today it was learned that former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, 83 years old, was hospitalized after having tested positive.
In the last 24 hours, the United States has reported 1,085 deaths and more than 37,000 cases of COVID-19.
New Zealand, on the other hand, recorded today the first death caused by the new coronavirus in more than three months, the New Zealand Ministry of Health announced.
MEDICAL PROGRESS
The WHO warned today that vaccination for COVID-19 will not be widespread before mid-next year. The main reason is the vaccine’s proven efficacy and safety. Spokesperson Margaret Harris explained that phase 3 of the tests may “take more time” because it is necessary “to see if the vaccine is really protective”.
Even so, EU countries should have access in November to the first vaccine against the new coronavirus, community sources said. The manufacturer behind this order is AstraZeneca, which is producing a vaccine with the University of Oxford.
Danish pharma company Novo Nordisk is exploring whether a group of drugs that helps to lose weight and control diabetes will have the potential to fight COVID-19.
In Mozambique, the Manhiça Research and Health Center will study the effectiveness of a vaccine used against tuberculosis in the fight against COVID-19.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
The Ministers’ Council yesterday approved lowering VAT on electricity to 13% for lower consumption households, a measure that covers about 5.2 million families and will ease household bills in times of pandemic.
The analysis by the Public Finance Council on the Social Security budget execution, published yesterday, reveals that the drop in revenues due to the pandemic was partially contained, in the first half, by the increase in wages.
An AHRESP (Restaurants and Hotels Association) survey finds that 61% of food and beverage companies have used funding throughout the pandemic, 40% of restaurant companies and another 16% of tourist accommodation companies are considering moving towards insolvency and only 7% have already resorted to the reinforcement of Turismo de Portugal’s microcredit line.
The United Kingdom is divided concerning tourism in Portugal. The country remains off England’s blacklist, but Scotland and Wales have included Portugal. The increase in the number of cases in the country may prove to be harmful to the tourism sector.
In the coming weeks, TAP airline company should choose an investment bank to find potential investors interested in entering its capital, at a time when the impact of the pandemic, which is being felt particularly strongly in aviation, makes the sector unappetizing.
FINANCIAL MARKETS
The Lisbon Stock Exchange opened on the negative ground today, with the PSI-20 falling 1.03% to 4,279.36 points. However, IGCP (the institute that manages Portuguese public debt) said it will return to the market next Wednesday with a double auction of ten and 25-year Treasury bonds. The goal is to raise to 1,250 million euros.
The main European stock exchanges, on the other hand, continued to rise slightly after the Wall Street market ended with heavy losses in yesterday’s session.
The Eurostoxx 600 continued to advance 0.49% to 364.11 points in the early morning, while Frankfurt rose 0.29%, Paris 0.54%, London 0.58%, Milan 0.94% and Madrid 1.77 %.
