By TPN / Lusa, in News, COVID-19 · 21-08-2021 13:45:00 · 0 comments
Portugal will no longer be in a state of calamity due to the Covid-19 pandemic and will enter a state of contingency, announced the Minister of the Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, who highlighted the positive movement.
“As for the general measures, we are no longer in a state of calamity and we are now in a state of contingency, with rules applicable throughout the mainland,” the governor said at the press conference held after the Council of Ministers, which met in an extraordinary manner to anticipate the planned changes in the second phase of moderation of the blockade.
In her first speech, the minister, who leads the government at this stage due to the holidays of the prime minister and other state ministers, stressed that the country has an incidence of 316.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 14 days and a transmissibility index (Rt) of 0.98.
“When we look at the evolution, we see that since the beginning of this month the Rt has risen again, but still below 1. In July, when the image we are currently following was presented, we moved on to a phase in which the central element became the percentage of population vaccinated with the two doses. On August 18 we exceeded 70% and the country has a percentage above the European Union average “, he underlined.
Mariana Vieira da Silva also compared the latest epidemic wave with that of early 2021, stressing that Portugal has never come close to January figures and that the current situation has “flattened out”. . “When comparing the two waves in relation to the admissions, the difference is even more significant. The same goes for intensive care units, as the country currently has figures that are about half of what the 255-bed red line is, ”he indicated, adding:“ In terms of deaths, the values remain stable and a downward trend begins ”.
In Portugal, since March 2020, 17,622 people have died and 1,014,632 cases of infection have been registered, according to the Directorate General of Health.