COVID-19 | Weekly Update

Friday, July 2nd | COVID-19 Daily Update

CURRENT OUTLOOK

Portugal recorded, in 24 hours, seven more deaths and 2,436 new people infected with COVID-19, according to the epidemiological bulletin of the Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS). 

Data released today show that the number of deaths rose to 17,108, while confirmed cases increased to 884,442. 

The number of people recovered also increased by 1,255 to a total of 831,479.

Nationwide, the incidence is at 189,4 cases per 100,000 inhabitants over the last two weeks and the R(t) rose to 1.16.

The incidence in Braga is now at 121 cases.

 

THE PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL

The Government announced more restrictions for municipalities with a high (26) and very high (19) risk level. 

The measure with the most impact is the restriction of circulation on public roads after 23h00. There are about four million residents in these municipalities covered by this measure.  

The President of the Republic insists that “there is no reason for alarm” and continues to swear that with him “there is no going back”, while the Government seems scared and confesses that “the situation is now more difficult”. 

Confronted with the new measures, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa argues that the Government “is looking for an alternative path”.

Yesterday, researcher Carlos Antunes warned that COVID-19 testing is “losing its effectiveness”, which is reflected in the positivity rate, which is currently above 3%. The researcher from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon explained that this positivity can be seen differently in terms of the number of cases detected for every 100,000 tests performed.

For now, at Hospital de São João, Porto, the number of people suspected of having contracted COVID-19 and who seek the hospital emergency room has not worsened but remains at a worrying level. 

The person in charge of the service points out that it is the young people who contribute most to this affluence. Nélson Pereira, the coordinator of the emergency service, said that the Hospital de São João has been attended mainly by young people and there are “many cases of students from Erasmus program in the Porto region”. 

Researchers sustain changes in the risk matrix to allow faster decisions in fighting the pandemic, considering that it is “obsolete” and “misleading” because the indicators used are “too slow”. 

According to Jorge Buescu, in the Occasional Commission for monitoring the application of response measures to COVID-19, the use of the cumulative incidence of 14 days per 100,000 inhabitants at this stage in which there is an “exponential growth” of the epidemic “is dangerous”, arguing that, “at the very least”, the indicators should be “completely reformulated”.

Finally, the vaccination task force admits that there are some delays in contacting users who resort to self-scheduling. According to the organization, there are some “isolated cases” in which the 72-hour deadline for setting the date and place for taking the vaccine is not being met.

 

THE PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD

The World Health Organization (WHO) delegate for Europe recommended today that PCR or antigen tests should be performed in schools, to avoid distance education in the event of a resurgence of new cases of COVID-19.

The European Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the administration of two doses of vaccine against COVID-19 to people at risk, even if they have been previously infected with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. This position comes at a time when countries such as Portugal, Austria, Croatia, Estonia, France, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Slovenia, and Spain administer only one dose of vaccine to previously infected people, and when the Delta variant of SARS-CoV- 2, initially detected in India and more transmissible than any other, is spreading rapidly in the European Union.

Regarding the Digital Certificate, the Slovenian Presidency of the European Council is making pressure over Germany to comply with the agreement on the document and to facilitate travel within the European space. Otherwise, it argues that it is the very credibility of the document that is at stake.

Around five million Britons immunized with doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine made in India could be prevented from entering the European Union because those doses have not been approved by European regulators.

In Australia, the government will halve the number of international arrivals, at a time when the country is facing an outbreak caused by the Delta variant that has already forced the confinement of half of its population.

Brazil is once again involved in controversy. This time, at least three people cheated the health system by allegedly taking three doses of vaccines in the state of São Paulo. It should be noted that the country has already surpassed the barrier of 520,000 deaths and 18.6 million positive cases of the disease. 

India became the third country in the world to exceed 400,000 deaths, after the USA and Brazil. In the last 24 hours, the country has registered 853 deaths, bringing to 400,312 the total number of deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

 

MEDICAL PROGRESS

The vaccine produced by Janssen neutralizes the Delta variant, the company said in a statement, adding that the single-dose vaccine also protects against various infections.

Janssen assumed that some recipients of its vaccine produce strong antibodies that neutralize all variants that appear in the world for eight months. Studies have shown that the vaccine neutralizes the delta variant within 29 days, with protection improving as the days go by. 

Also, study data from a South African laboratory show that the Janssen / Johnson & Johnson vaccine is effective against the Delta variant, which now dominates new infections in that African country. The vaccine generates a good immune response for at least eight months.

 

ECONOMIC IMPACT 

Foreign Direct Investment in Portugal, in the first five months of this year, has already surpassed the value registered in the same period of 2019 and the Government is confident that throughout the year it will beat the record achieved in the pre-pandemic period. 

According to data from the Government, until June, Portugal had already raised 364.47 million euros, having raised an additional 18 leads, which could translate into around 2 billion euros. Secretary of State Eurico Brilhante Dias believes that “this year we have conditions to surpass the contract values of 2019” when it reached 1,179 million euros. 

Regarding industrial producer prices, they increased by 1.3% in the Eurozone and 1.4% in the European Union, compared to April. According to Eurostat, this represents a growth of 0.4 and 0.5 percentage points in the Eurozone and the European Union, respectively, concerning April, which had registered an increase of 0.9%. In annual terms, the increase was 9.6% both in the euro area and in the European Union.

In Spain, the number of foreign tourists rose to 1.36 million in May, a significant increase over the same period last year, when the pandemic was heavily affecting economies and borders were closed. The values were advanced by Spain’s Statistics Board, which maintains that tourists spent 1,392 million euros.

Ryanair has been registering an increase in the number of passengers, in line with the lifting of restrictions and the adoption of the digital certificate in the European block. During June, the Irish low-cost company carried 5.3 million passengers on 38,000 of its flights. Compared to June 2020, when air restrictions were imposed due to the worsening of the pandemic, and which transported around 40,000 passengers.

 

FINANCIAL MARKETS

The Lisbon Stock Exchange was losing, this morning, 0.25% to 5,094.66 points. 

The main European stock exchanges were negotiating on positive ground, with Madrid only standing out in the negative. Frankfurt valued 0.43% and Paris gained 0.08%. Madrid yielded 0.16%, while London added 0.17% and Italy appreciated 0.26%. The Euro Stoxx continued to appreciate 0.25% to 4,089.06 points.