The eight graphs that represent the impact of the Ómicron variant in Portugal (and the comparison with 2020) – Observer
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The Ómicron variant was detected for the first time in Portugal on 29 November, after the General Directorate of Health confirmed 13 positive cases among the squad and members of the technical team of Belenenses SAD. Since then, Covid-19 cases have increased, reach the highs of February, and the trend has extended to hospitalizations and daily deaths, at a time when Christmas approaches, a time of conviviality in which several people who do not belong to the same household gather.
A year ago, around this time, a new variant was also discovered – the British one, which later came to be called Alpha by the World Health Organization (WHO). In Portugal, in the days before Christmas 2020, the daily cases are decreasing, as well as hospitalizations and deaths, this after a partial confinement that decreed, among other measures, the mandatory curfew on weekends from 13:00.
In 2021, with practically 87% of the population vaccinated, the scenario is different. But in terms of cases, it’s close to last year. Between November 29 of this year until this Monday (in blue in the chart below), an average of daily contagions was approximately 3,881, while in the same period of 2020 (the red line in the graph) stood at 3,791.
With regard to deaths, the difference is already substantial. Last year, and using the same time frame, had an average of 79 deaths per day, while in 2021 this number is only 17. The worst day of last year, December 13, reached almost a hundred deaths (98), while in 2021 it did not surpass 25. Still, this one year, there was a slight increase without the number of deaths from late November until now.
The Ómicron variant also increased hospital admissions, both in wards and in intensive care units (ICU). As of November 29, there were 809 inpatients in the ward; this Monday there are already 943. In the ICU, an increase was also reported: at the end of last month, 111 patients taking care of intensive care against 152 this Monday.
The 2020 numbers were, however, much worse. On December 20 of last year, there were 3027 patients in the ward, while this Monday there are 943. This trend is also verified in the ICU: there were 483 people in need of intensive care in 2020, against 152 this year.
In incidence, the increase that an Omicron variant caused is also noted. On November 29, the number was 320 cases per 100,000 inhabitants – but on December 20 it was already at 580 infections per 100,000 inhabitants.
Ómicron will account for 90% of cases by the end of the year and Marta Temido warns: “We have to be prepared to do more”
The Ómicron variant should be dominant in Portugal by the end of the year, according to the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, who also said that currently a new strain represents 20% of the total number of infections.