Covid-19. A new wave in Portugal like the one in January is ″ unlikely ″
“A fourth wave with the size and severity of the previous ones is very unlikely, but Portugal is part of an open world. If other countries are witnessing an increase in cases, and with the mobility that people have, it is normal that Portugal may have, during the winter months, an increase in cases and a new wave, which vaccination can make less lethal”, the association’s vice president, Gustavo Tato Borges, told Lusa.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) today consider the situation of the covid-19 pandemic in Europe “worrying”, with an increase in infections in some countries, having more than doubled as associated hospitalizations. to illness in a week.
According to Gustavo Tato Borges, this negative evolution of the pandemic is largely due to asymmetries in vaccination coverage between European countries, as well as the relaxation of non-pharmacological measures, which “increased the risk of close contacts and the greater transmissibility of the disease, the which was perfectly to be expected”.
Regarding the growth in the number of cases in Portugal in recent days, the public health specialist points out that it is not being accompanied by a proportional increase in terms of mortality, due to the protective effect of the vaccine against covid-19.
“We’re not going to have what happened in January and February 2021. I don’t think this catastrophic dimension of cases and deaths is likely to happen again, but we may see a dwindling increase that could ‘boycott’ the normal functioning of the National Health Service” in the winter months, said Gustavo Tato Borges.
The EMA considers today that an epidemiological situation related to covid-19 in the European Union (EU) is “very worrying”, given the approach of winter, urging citizens to get vaccinated or complete the vaccination schedule.
Data from another European agency, the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), reveal that, to date, 75.4% of the adult population in the EU is fully vaccinated, while 80.6% took only the first dose.
This equates to 275 million people with the complete vaccination schedule, according to the ECDC website on vaccination in the EU, which is based on data from Member States.
By countries, there are large discrepancies in vaccination rates, between 26.4% of total vaccination in Bulgaria and 92.3% in Ireland.
The WHO also warned today that the situation of the covid-19 pandemic in Europe is “very worrying” and pointed out the insufficient coverage of vaccines and the relaxation of reductions to explain the increase in cases in recent weeks.
“We are at another critical point for the outbreak of the pandemic. Europe is once again at the epicenter of the pandemic, where it was a year ago. The difference, today, is that we know more and can do more,” said the director of the World Organization for Health (WHO) Europe, Hans Kluge, at a press conference.
Portugal registered today 1,382 confirmed cases of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, four deaths associated with covid-19, a reduction in ward admissions and a further increase in intensive care, according to official data.
The number of new cases registered today anticipates by three days the one anticipated by the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, at a press conference on October 28th.
According to Marta Temido, the highlights and analyzes of epidemiological modeling carried out by the National Institute of Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge pointed to 1,300 confirmed cases on November 7, if the risk of transmission recorded in the data was maintained.