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Epidemiologist Baltazar Nunes, from the National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, said this Friday that, at this time, the R0 indicator is “above 1 in the entire country.”
At the usual press conference to present epidemiological data, Baltazar Nunes explained that, at this time, the R0 indicator, which assesses how many people will be infected, on average, by a single patient with covid-19, is above 1 in the entire national territory. Between September 9 and 13, the value of R was 1.15.
“We are in a third phase of virus growth. The first was in April and March, during the start of the pandemic; the second in May and June, with the increase in cases in Lisbon and Vale do Tejo. And now a third phase in the finals. August and early September. Evolution will depend on the effectiveness of public health measures ”, he stressed.
Still with regard to the increase in the number of contagion cases, the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, acknowledged that caution is needed, so there has been a “constant reinforcement of the number of tests“On September 16 a new daily record was broken, with 23,289 diagnostic tests performed.
Regarding protective equipment, Temido stressed that “centralized tenders are being held for the reserve of personal protective equipment, regardless of the increase in stock determined in August by order of the Ministry of Health.”
The flu vaccination program will begin early this year, still in September. And there are more doses than usual. The announcement was made by the general director of Health, Graça Freitas.
“I leave an appeal here. Anyone who has an indication to get vaccinated should do so. The NHS bought more vaccines than usual: just over 2 million doses,” he explained, only to reveal that the program begins on September 28.
Baltazar Nunes explained that there is three factors associated with higher mortality between March 2 and August 30 compared to the homologous period of the last five years: a seasonal flu epidemic, covid-19, with a peak in April and a “heat wave“.
“If the excess mortality was linked to the decrease in the capacity of the health services, there were no fluctuations in this period“, he clarified, adding that” these three factors are expected to increase the risk of dying. “
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