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Just four hours before closing the air borders to all non-Portuguese or non-resident travelers arriving on flights from the UK, Portugal announced Sunday night that it would finally join, at midnight, countries like France, Germany, Belgium. . , Italy, Sweden, Holland, Ireland and Scotland that, during the afternoon, had already announced the suspension of air, rail and road connections originating in the United Kingdom. The difference is that in Portugal citizens of other nationalities can continue to enter as long as they have a legal residence permit here, but everyone must bring proof of a “laboratory test” with a negative result for the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
The tightening of restrictions in relation to the United Kingdom is a consequence of the worsening of the situation in that country due to the new variant of the coronavirus, which has a contagion potential of up to 70% and which caused the confinement of London, the southeast region and part of East England since yesterday and until the 30th. To the PUBLIC, the National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge guaranteed that in Portugal, unlike countries like Holland, Denmark and Australia, no case of the variant identified in England.
The Ministry of Interior Administration (MAI), which announced the closure of borders just two hours after the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MNE) assured the PUBLIC that it had no intention of doing so, does not specify, however, the progress with which the proof. of travelers should be done. After the announcement, three flights arrived at Lisbon airport on Sunday night and another ten were scheduled for Monday, not counting Porto and Faro. If passengers do not have proof, the authorities will tell them on arrival to do so at the airport and they will be isolated. The measure will be “updated according to the evolution of the situation,” says the MAI.
However, unlike this great advance of the MAI, the General Health Directorate devalued the situation, considering that this mutation is an “expected” occurrence, which is not “a cause for concern in itself” and “does not seem to have an impact in mortality. “” Most mutations do not increase the risk for humans. However, some mutations or combinations of mutations can provide the virus with a selective advantage, such as greater transmissibility or a greater ability to evade the immune response of the virus. guest ”, added the DGS mentioned by Lusa.
After the MNE said at the end of the morning that it was following the situation “carefully”, but preferred the measures taken “universally instead of restricting the circulation possibilities of those who have to travel for professional reasons or for family reunions”, At the beginning of the night, the PSD called on the government to impose control measures such as flight restrictions.
Also due to the chain reaction of the different countries – some where they have already been detected infected with the new strain -, the assumption by England that the situation was “out of control” (on Sunday there were 35,928 new cases and 326 deaths) In response to requests for a uniform position from European countries, the European Council meets on this emergency Monday. On Sunday, the French president, the German chancellor and the presidents of the European Commission and the Council were already online.
The World Health Organization has also asked European members to “tighten controls” and “increase their sequencing capabilities” of the virus, to better understand the risks of the new variant.
Experts devalue
This is what the epidemiologist from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, Manuel Carmo Gomes, defends: “a lot of laboratory work” is guessed. “We have to intensify the genetic sequencing of suspected cases, such as reinfections, and investigate the strain of virus that is causing the disease,” he describes, highlighting that it will be essential to monitor cases of vaccine failure, that is, in which vaccinated people contract the disease “to see if this variant is involved or not.”
Asked about the impact of the new variant in the vaccine, the epidemiologist says that it is too early to draw conclusions, but admits that it is “unlikely that the vaccine will stop being effective”, since “it acts on all proteins spike“The same thing that will have changed with the new strain of the virus. However, with the new variant, the R (indicator of disease contagion) can increase up to 0.4 points, which makes “natural that the transmission process goes a little faster”.
What to do then to face it? The epidemiologist insists on the importance of complying with the use of a mask, physical distance and frequent hand hygiene.
Virologist Pedro Simas, from the Lisbon Institute of Molecular Medicine, follows the same path: “You have to wait and be vigilant, it is not expected to have a great impact on the vaccine (…) but it is too early to speculate about it”, stated, quoted by Lusa. Pedro Simas devalues the new scenario: “There are always new strains geographically located, but this, in a way, is a good sign: it is a sign that we are not going back to more virulent strains, which cause more serious diseases.” with Pedro Bastos Reis
