COVID-19 | Weekly Update

Friday, August 6th | COVID-19 Daily Update

CURRENT OUTLOOK 

According to the epidemiological bulletin of the Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS), in the last 24 hours, over 2,377 cases of infection and 18 deaths associated with COVID-19 were registered in Portugal. 

Data released today indicate that there are now 982,364 confirmed cases since day 1 of the pandemic and 17,440 deaths. 

Regarding recoveries from the disease, 2,911 more people were considered recovered, bringing the total number to 920,278.

 

THE PANDEMIC IN PORTUGAL

Portugal has already administered more than 12 million doses of vaccines against COVID-19 and expects to receive, this month, 1.2 million additional doses, which are added to the 1.6 million doses contracted with suppliers, informed the Ministry of Health, highlighting the “commitment of everyone involved in the process”.

The President of the Republic addressed the doubts regarding the vaccination of children between 12 and 15 years old, reiterating that it is necessary to “let time run out” to show that “what is good at this moment in Madeira” – where the vaccination of younger people already started – “will also be considered good in the Azores and on the mainland”.

The coordinator of the task force, said today that around 70,000 young people aged 16 and 17 in a universe of 200,000 have signed up for vaccination. Henrique Gouveia e Melo also stated that, at this time, there is still no scientific evidence on the need for a third dose of the vaccine against COVID-19.

Portugal is still the second country with more deaths on the European risk map. Over the last 14 days, Portugal registered 15.83 deaths per million and 384.49 cases of infection per 100,000 inhabitants. 

It is the sixth country with the most cases on the weekly risk map of the European Center for Disease Control and Prevention, with the Algarve being the region with the highest incidence.

 

THE PANDEMIC IN EUROPE AND THE WORLD

Germany plans to administer the third dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to older patients and nursing home residents starting in September. Despite the World Health Organization (WHO) call for a moratorium on this practice, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said Israel is doing a “great service” to the world by administering a third dose of the vaccine after launching a booster vaccination campaign. 

In this context, Chile also announced that it will start applying a booster dose to those vaccinated with CoronaVac from next week, as the effectiveness decreases after six months after taking the first dose.

On the African continent, a total of 58,115 people were vaccinated in two days in Mozambique, as part of the mass immunization campaign launched by the Government. 

Cape Verde is already accepting entry into the country with valid certificates of complete vaccination. The country adopted its model of COVID-19 certificate, replicating what is already in force in the European Union.

In Asia, Manila today began the third confinement during the pandemic, which will last at least two weeks, this time to curb the delta variant in the Philippine capital. 

China, in turn, announced that it had identified 124 new cases, of which 80 were caused by local contagion, the majority in Jiangsu province, in the east of the country. This week, several cities launched mass testing campaigns and enacted partial confinements aimed at containing the outbreaks.  

At the same time, the Chinese President has pledged this year to supply two billion doses of vaccines to the rest of the world, consolidating the country’s position as the largest global exporter of inoculations against COVID-19.

 

MEDICAL PROGRESS

Moderna admitted today that the third dose of its COVID-19 vaccine will be needed before the end of the year, due to the expected increase in contagion caused by the Delta variant of the new coronavirus. The American biotechnology company is studying a third booster dose, which was given, in the amount of 50 micrograms, to a group of people six months after they received the second dose.

 

ECONOMIC IMPACT 

The Portuguese Prime Minister said that the Recovery and Resilience Plan “is a reality that is in action”, adding that 15% of the total funds are already contracted, after meeting yesterday with the National Monitoring Commission.

To help the national economy, the Government approved a solution that creates credit insurance of 500 million euros, intended to cover the risks associated with company sales. “The current pandemic crisis has had significant impacts on trade and business activity”, justify the Ministries of Economy and Finance.

Insolvencies fell to 382 in July this year, compared to 387 registered in the same period of 2020, which translates into a decrease of 1.3%, according to Iberinform. 

However, when analyzing the accumulated data for the year, it is possible to conclude that there was an increase of 11.6% compared to the first seven months of the previous year. By the end of July 2021, 3,129 insolvencies were registered. 

Abroad, industrial production in Germany dropped by 22 points in July, compared with the 27 points in June, the German economic statistics office revealed today. German industry thus reduces its production expectations, although the value achieved is still very high compared to the long-term average.

Finally, it should be noted that Moderna went from losses to profits of around 3.4 billion euros in the first half of the year, due to the sales of the vaccine to fight COVID-19.

 

FINANCIAL MARKETS

The Lisbon Stock Exchange continued, at mid-session today, trading in positive territory, adding 0.15% to 5,139.49 points, a decline compared to the opening moment. 

The other European markets followed the same trend, except for the Madrid Stock Exchange, which has continued to fall since the opening of the session. Among the European financial markets, the German DAX advanced 0.19%, the British FTSE 100 appreciated 0.04%, the French CAC 40 appreciated 0.21%, while the Spanish IBEX 35 retreated 0.02%.

On Wall Street, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 closed yesterday at higher levels, after indicators were known to show that US jobless claims fell further last week. “The change has continued to improve in recent weeks and now there is a new low since the beginning of the pandemic,” said Keith Buchanan of Globalt Investments of these numbers.