[ad_1]
A study concluded that there is no direct link between COVID-19 infections and the use of rail transport in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, considering socioeconomic issues as the most determining factor.
The study, to which the Lusa agency had access, was developed by researchers Milton Severo, Ana Isabel Ribeiro, Raquel Lucas, Teresa Leão and Henrique Barros from the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto (ISPUP), between March 2 and July 5.
The analysis focused on the parishes crossed by the Azambuja, Sintra, Cascais, Sur (Fertagus), Sado and Oeste railway lines, located in municipalities of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area.
Speaking to the Lusa agency, Professor Milton Severo, one of the authors of the study, explained that the objective was to understand the relationship between the proximity of railway stations to the transmission of covid-19.
“It was found that, when comparing these lines, they were not homogeneously associated. That is to say, the risk of infection was not greater in the parishes closer to the stations than in those further away“, he pointed.
The researcher said that, for example, the Sintra line presented a greater risk in the parishes crossed by the train, but that on the Sado and Fertagus line the risk was greater in the parishes not crossed.
However, As of April, the researchers realized that the most determining factor for the risk of contagion was socioeconomic conditions.
“Although at the beginning of the pandemic this indicator (socioeconomic deprivation) was not associated, with the passage of time this indicator became associated and the parishes with greater deprivation had a greater risk of contagion compared to the others,” he said.
Thus, as the main conclusions, the study shows that there is no direct relationship between rail transport and the risk of contagion, since the data have been changing over time, and places socioeconomic conditions as a determining factor.
The covid-19 pandemic has already claimed at least 961,531 deaths and more than 31.1 million cases of infection in 196 countries and territories, according to a report by the French agency AFP.
In Portugal, 1,920 people died from 69,200 confirmed cases of infection, according to the most recent bulletin from the General Directorate of Health.
The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected in late December in Wuhan, a city in central China.
After Europe succeeded China as the center of the pandemic in February, the Americas are now the one with the most confirmed cases and the most deaths.
[ad_2]
