Pandemic in Portugal with “downward trend”
The covid-19 pandemic in Portugal is on a “declining trend” and “no region presents an incidence above the threshold of 240 cases”, according to the report ‘Monitoring the red lines for covid-19’, released this Friday. fair, by the General Directorate of Health (DGS) and the National Institute of Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge (INSA).
According to the document, Portugal has an incidence of 98 cases per 100,000 inhabitants accumulated in the last 14 days, which represents “a decreasing trend at the national level”. “No region listed an incidence above the threshold of 240 cases in 14 days per 100,000 inhabitants”, he points out.
The age group aged 65 and over, which had shown a “steady downward trend” in recent weeks, now also presents a “decreasing trend”, by registering an occurrence of 73 new cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 14 days.
Also the transmissibility ratio (RT) shows “a decreasing trend”, by presenting a “value less than 1”. The RT is 0.89 in all regions.
As well as the number of cases, the number of people hospitalized in Intensive Care Units (ICU) with symptoms of covid-19 in mainland Portugal “revealed a decreasing trend, corresponding to 27% (in the previous week it was 29%) of the defined critical value of 255 occupied beds”.
Also “specific mortality by COVID-19 (8.4 deaths in 14 days per 1 000 000 inhabitants) shows a decreasing trend, which reveals a reduced impact of the pandemic in terms of mortality by covid-19 (less than 10 deaths per million in 14 days) ”.
In the last week, a positive rate of tests performed for the SARS-CoV-2 virus was 1.2%, “meeting the defined threshold of 4.0%”. However, “a decrease in the number of tests for detection of SARS-CoV-2 performed in the last seven days was observed”.
According to the report, “the Delta variant (B.1.617.2), associated with India, is the dominant variant in all regions, with a relative frequency of 100% of cases” occurring between 13 and 19 September.
In short, “an analysis of the different indicators reveals an epidemic of SARS-CoV-2 of reduced intensity, with a decreasing trend at the national level, as well as a pressured reduction in health services and an impact on mortality with a decreasing trend”.