Number of patients with covid-19 and serious rises in Europe. Is Portugal in this danger?
Several countries in Europe are registering an increase in the number of patients with covid-19, from the outset Spain, but also the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands, in addition to the countries of the East. In Portugal, there is a continuous rise in cases and hospitalizations, but the question is whether there is a risk of a situation getting worse and having to return to confinement measures, as is already the case abroad.
“There is always the possibility of witnessing an escalation of cases as happens in other countries in Europe, there may be one or another new variant or one of our most vulnerable ‘be more fragile, everything is unknown. But the truth is that we have one very different epidemiological situation: vaccination coverage with two doses of more than 86% of the population, which hinders the circulation of the virus. And in some countries, notably the UK, we see a sub-variant of Delta that has been more problematic among unvaccinated people. In Portugal, some cases were detected, but the latest report by the INSA (National Institute of Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge) says that all infections are of the Delta variant”, explains Gonçalo Tato Borges, vice president of the National Association of Public Health Doctors (ANMSP).
It refers to the weekly report Monitoring Red Lines for Covid-19 for the period 15-21 October, which concludes that the “Delta variant, known as India, is dominant in all regions, with a relative frequency of 100%”. Add the document that the “Epidemic activity of SARS-CoV-2 is of low intensity and moderate transmissibility, with a stable trend at the national level. Pressure on health services and the impact of mortality are reduced”.
At the time, the average of infections in 14 days was 91 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, this Tuesday it rose to 92.8, but less than half of the 240 cases per 100,000 derivatives as the red line of the pandemic. an incident [R
The UK has experienced three dozen deaths and nearly 40,000 new infections daily, which has increased pressure on the British government to tighten restrictions. Among these, telecommuting and the mandatory use of masks.
In Spain there were 4485 new cases of infections between Friday and Sunday and a further 54 deaths. The Dutch government is considering introducing further restrictions due to the rapid increase in the number of covid-19 cases to over 6300 per day and pressure on hospitals. Germany reached 100 new cases of covid-19 per 100,000 population for the first time since May, while Russia and Ukraine once again set records in the number of infections and deaths.
The numbers also increased in Romania, which has hardened as measures since Monday. The situation has worsened in Bulgaria, with the health minister announcing that there is a shortage of fans and beds in intensive care. And Slovakia has extended restrictions to more regions of the country, due to the intensification of new cases.
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