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The Director General of Health said, this Wednesday, at a press conference, that the authorities have not yet ruled on the maximum number of people who can be present at the Sanctuary of Fatima for the pilgrimage on October 13. And, contrary to what has been said, Graça Freitas does not consider that there may be 55 thousand people inside the enclosure, with the number of cases of covid-19 increasing in the country.
“The General Directorate of Health (DGS) does not know where the number 55 thousand came from. We have not received any opinion, no plan for the sanctuary”, confirmed Graça Freitas, adding that the meeting requested by the sanctuary to the Secretary of State for Health, António Lacerda Sales, has not yet been held. In other words, so far no “health authority” has been consulted.
Graça Freitas was available to collaborate with the Church with a view to preventing possible floods, as in the pilgrimage last Sunday (September 13), when the sanctuary had to close its doors because there were too many people in the enclosure. Despite the fact that the spokeswoman for the institution made sure that the pilgrims respected health regulations, the sanctuary did not have as many people.
The director general of Health assures that a figure like the one published by various media in recent days, around 50 thousand citizens, does not seem adequate at first glance and does not know “where this figure came from.” .
“We do not believe that 55 thousand people are possible in the sanctuary”, at a time when the pandemic is accelerating in the country.
The same value was commented on Tuesday by the President of the Republic, who assumed that he did not agree with the large concentrations, regardless of their nature. Marcelo Receo de Sousa pointed out that he believes in the work of the health authorities, but considered that this is not the time for 50,000 people to gather, not even in a large space.
During the press conference, the Director General of Health said that a new orientation on mass events is being created. “We have to issue a different indication and then this reference will be adapted to our epidemiological circumstances,” declared Graça Freitas.
The head of DGS indicated that this type of event “in fact is conducive” to contagion, but, in Portugal, “there have been very few”, since it cannot be considered that “theaters and film screenings are massive events” . “. Therefore, Graça Freitas has no “knowledge of the transmission chains associated with massive events to date.”
Schools. “There have been isolated cases” but that was “expected”
Regarding the start of the new school year, which started on Monday, the Director General of Health said that everything is going normally.
Graça Freitas explained that “there have been isolated cases”, both of students and teachers, who were already infected before returning to school, but these infections have not disturbed the normal functioning of schools. “This was to be expected, we have cases in the community, in families.”
The reduction of the isolation period is studied
Currently, the period of prophylactic isolation is 14 days in Portugal, but the Director General of Health says that the possibility of reducing it is being studied, if it is found that the risk does not increase. The decision will always be made “with balance and guaranteed security”.
“The ten days are more or less consensual for positive people. Even the French, who have shortened to seven days in relation to the patients, in relation to the contacts of the patients test the seventh day and, eventually, if the test is negative, they only release that person from isolation on the tenth day “, explained the Director General of Health.
In Portugal, in the last 24 hours, three more people died and 605 more cases of covid-19 were confirmed (an increase of 0.9% compared to the previous day). According to the epidemiological bulletin of the General Health Directorate (DGS) this Wednesday (September 16), in total, since the pandemic began, 65,626 people have been infected, 44,528 recovered (more than 166) and 1,878 deaths in the country .
There are currently 19,220 active Portuguese patients under follow-up by the health authorities, 436 more than yesterday.
The country has 209 active outbreaks, informed the Minister of Health. The North is the region with the highest number of transmission chains: 146. Then, Lisbon and Vale do Tejo (96), Center (20), Algarve (17) and Alentejo (11).
