[ad_1]
Portugal registered a new daily maximum of deaths from covid-19, with 95 deaths and 5080 new cases of infection by the new coronavirus, which corresponds to an increase of 1.5%. The previous record for deaths was recorded on November 16, when covid-19 recorded more than 91 deaths. This was also the second day with the highest number of new infections since the beginning of this month, after December 5, the day on which another 6087 infected were reported.
In total, the country has registered 5,373 deaths and 340,287 infected people since March, although published in the bulletin this Friday of the General Directorate of Health (DGS), the data correspond to the total of Thursday.
The northern region has 2395 new cases (47% of total new infections) and 41 deaths and Lisbon and Vale do Tejo plus 1618 infected and 32 deaths.
Another 4,100 people recovered from the disease, with a total of 263,648 recovered. Another 885 active cases of infection have yet to be registered, for a total of 71,266.
3,230 people with covid-19 are hospitalized (74 less than the previous day’s data), of which 507 are in intensive care units (less two).
The 95 deaths identified in Friday’s data include six men ages 60 to 69; 12 men and seven women between 70 and 79 years old; and 23 men and 47 women (74% of the deaths reported this Friday) over the age of 80, the age group most affected in terms of deaths.
The country with the highest number of infections is the North, which has registered 178,378 accumulated cases since the start of the pandemic. Lisbon and the Tagus Valley follow, with 110,635 cases; the Center, with 35,358 cases (787 more than the previous day); the Alentejo, with 7613 cases (more than 193) and the Algarve, with 6015 infected (more than 66).
The Azores archipelago has a total of 1,270 cases of infection (plus 16) and Madeira has 1,018 cases (plus five).
The North is also the region with the highest number of deaths from covid-19, with a cumulative total of 2578. The Lisbon and Vale do Tejo region registers 1,863 deaths, followed by the Center, with 713 deaths (16 more), the Alentejo, with 138 deaths (two more), and the Algarve, with 58 deaths from covid-19 (two more). The archipelagos of Azores and Madeira reported another fatality each Friday, registering a total of 20 and three deaths from covid-19, respectively.
“The first challenge will be to manage the shortage” of vaccines
The Minister of Health, Marta Temido, explained this Friday that she still cannot advance the amount of vaccine doses in the first batch that will arrive in Portugal, since work is still being done between the different companies, the Portuguese State and the European Agency of Medicines. “We do not yet have hard figures on the number of doses that will be delivered to us,” he told a news conference after a two-week interruption.
“The first challenge will be to manage, in a first phase, the shortage,” added Marta Temido. “We have to be patient and realize that there are steps that we cannot underestimate or devalue” because it is essential to have “the guarantee that all vaccines are safe and of quality,” he said.
The minister also guaranteed that “in the first week [de Janeiro] we can be vaccinating ”. Several calendars have been mentioned, with the distribution to the different countries of the first doses scheduled for the first days of the year, said Marta Temido, but “this effort is being made so that this [o início da vacinação] they happen in the first days of January ”.
Of the four excess mortality peaks, two are due to covid-19
In the current situation in which the verified mortality is above the estimated mortality, and taking the previous years as a reference, the Minister of Health indicated that there are four areas with excessive mortality. Marta Temido attributed “these four moments to the first peak of the covid-19, to two phenomena of extreme temperatures”, as well as to “a fourth moment that we are now experiencing excess mortality from all causes.”
Responding to a question about whether this reality is due to failures in the care of the National Health Service (SNS), the minister guaranteed that “the services of the Ministry of Health have been following these phenomena for a long time to avoid situations that can be avoided. A “call for use” of the NHS will be “repeated and left” as all procedures are being followed to ensure safe service.
“Christmas is a time of hugs. This year it can’t be like that.”
Regarding the risk of an increase in the number of cases associated with family reunions and Christmas and New Year celebrations, the minister was clear: “We will not hesitate to take more serious measures” if this increase occurs, said Marta Temido. And he recalled that all Portuguese must be aware that they cannot celebrate this festive season as in previous years. “Christmas is a time of hugs. This year it can’t be like that. “
