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Portugal registered another 4,720 new cases and 82 deaths from covid-19 in the last 24 hours, according to data from the situation report of the General Directorate of Health (DGS) this Wednesday (December 16).
Compared to the previous day, there were 2,082 more infections and two fewer deaths.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 358,269 cases have been confirmed in Portugal and 5,815 deaths from covid-19.
In the bulletin there is also a record of less than 25 people in the ward (now there are 3181) and 20 less in intensive care (486). In practice, the health services registered a slight relief, highlighting that for 26 days the intensive care units had not registered such a low number of hospitalized users. 3,681 more have been recovered (283,719 have been reached since the pandemic began).
Despite some hospital improvements, there are more than 957 active cases nationwide, now numbering 68,762, while health officials have 74,290 surveillance contacts, but 282 fewer than in Tuesday’s report.
It should be noted that 79% of the deaths from covid-19 registered in Portugal in the last 24 hours were in the northern regions (35 deaths) and Lisbon and Vale do Tejo (30).
In the north, another 2,182 new infections were registered, while in the area of and Lisbon 1,375 cases were reached in the last 24 hours.
In the central region, 840 new cases and 14 deaths from covid-19 were detected, while in Alentejo there were 177 more cases and two deaths and the Algarve had 95 infections and one death.
In the autonomous communities there were no losses of life, but in the Azores there were 36 more infected and in Madeira another 16.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of the risk of a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe in 2021, recommending the use of masks during family gatherings during Christmas.
“Meetings should be held outdoors, if possible, and participants should wear masks and maintain physical distance. Indoors, groups should be limited in size and ensure good ventilation to reduce the risk of exposure. [ao novo coronavírus], recommended the European department of the United Nations agency in a statement.
It also warns that “despite weak progress” in containing new infections, “Covid-19 transmission continues extensively and intensively and there is a great risk of a new wave in the first weeks and months of 2021.”
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the district of Bragança has registered 77 deaths associated with covid-19, of which more than 80% are users of nursing homes, the majority in a single institution.
The Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Bragança had the largest outbreak in the district, with 28 deaths, which represent about half of the 64 known in homes and more than a third of the total deaths in the entire region, added by the authorities of Health.
The figures “fit perfectly with the characteristics of the region’s elderly population”, where 30% of the approximately 125,000 inhabitants are over 65 years of age, above 20% of the national average, and the weakest of the elderly are concentrated on discharge. of homes that exist in this territory, in the analysis of Fernando Pereira, professor / researcher at the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança.
The researcher has dedicated himself to studying aging and is now writing an article, together with two other colleagues, Helena Pimentel and Cristina Teixeira, on the impact of covid-19 on Residential Structures for the Elderly (ERPI). The article has a more global focus and is based on scientific publications from around the world on the first wave of the new coronavirus pandemic.
In the case of these institutions, the mortality rate is very high and our figures are perfectly identical to what happens here in Spain or in the United States of America ”, he told Lusa.
According to the data collected, households account for “20 to 30%” of the global number of infections with a fatality rate of “10%” and contribute to “between 30 and 66% of all deaths”.
The households in the district of Bragança are below the average in relation to the weight in the global number of infections, taking into account that the region has added, since the beginning of the pandemic, 4,372 cases, of which about 700 are among users and employees of these institutions. representing 16% of the total.
Regarding deaths, it exceeds the averages with more than 80% of the total registered in at least 12 of the more than one hundred homes in the Bragança district and confirmed by the addresses. What weighs the most in the figures is the outbreak of the Misericórdia de Bragança, which has already been remedied, which is also the one with the highest number of users and employees in the region, with 28 deaths, while the remaining institutions registered between one and eight deaths, users.
