Graça Freitas warns of ″very high transmissibility″. Portugal with 60 thousand cases in the last 7 days
The Director-General of Health, Graça Freitas, this Wednesday, takes stock of the epidemiological situation regarding Covid-19 in Portugal, reinforcing the call for the adoption of individual protection measures during the Easter period.
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With the festivities as Graça Freitas began to warn of the fact that an epidemic very maintains a “high transmissibility”, despite the general trend of increasing and Rt less than 1.
“The number of Covid-19 reported in the last seven days was around 60 thousand. We are still farther from reaching an activity that allows us to have a rare and safe case. This virus and the population’s immunity conditions us to have a case Insurance. Minors in health services, but we are still facing difficulties with the press and we can’t”, warned Graça Freitas at this Wednesday’s conference.
Not knowing what the next few months will be like at an epidemiological level, Graça Freitas asks for “all the protection we will get” this Easter.
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“It is urged that all citizens have a strategy to protect the elderly: the oldest are the sick and those in institutions. It is recommended to adjust isolated spaces, masks and physical distances, maintaining the isolated use of a Director General of Health.
The increase in the number of cases does not surprise Graça Freitas, who sees this trend as a consequence of monitoring measures.
“If there are always more cases, we take off the mask and we must be careful with an increase in the number of cases”, he explained.
Easter: “We are not predicting an exponential increase in the number of cases”
Although Easter is a time of protection for a large number of Portuguese, Graça Freitas does not expect a greater number of cases to be protected, as they are aware of how to protect themselves and others.
“We are not predicting an exponential increase in the number of measures, however, there is this risk and that is why we are asking people who are still in the next few days for some containment measures”, he considers.
End of mandatory mask use?
Graça Freitas recalls that experts consider it “safe” to abandon the restrictive mortality set when “the last death of mortality exceeds 20 deaths per million inhabitants in 14 days”.
“This is a barrier. We are optimistic that as the incidence decreases, this will reduce the repercussions on mortality, saying that “we will observe the behavior of the disease in the coming weeks and as soon as possible we will free society from the last restrictive measures”.
“But in this one, the majority is normal”, he notes, that, even if it is not mandatory, the DGS will continue to be the mask in health services and that they are no longer alert to health services and that they are more alert. .
Despite believing that the use of a mask will be mandatory, the DGS does not foresee that a restriction measure will allow it to exist as soon as expected.
“Without foreseeing the future, if another lineage of the Ómicron variant does not emerge, the trend of the decreasing epidemic, but very high levels of society. Graça Freitas.
Asked about a forecast to reach 20 deaths per million inhabitants in 1 days, Graça Freitas says that they were made several times “that were not verified”. “We have to be cautious and wait for the consolidation of this data. We are going down, but we still haven’t reached a low level”, she considered.
Removing masks in schools “is still a big risk”
The Directorate-General for Health reinforces the use of masks in schools “is segmented according to the risk and the children to be adopted for their use”. “only, at 10 years, from the old people have this reason, at 10 years, the older times of that reason, to wear a mask”.
The immune school population”, but Graçatas still has a large part that is alert that it is “susceptible” to the virus, being a large part that warns that it is “susceptible” to the virus, being vectors of transmission that is great for children.
The mask can be a barrier, recognizes Graça Freitas, but “removing this barrier is still a great risk with transmissibility at this moment”.
When is a fourth dose of the vaccine due?
Questioned by TSF Regarding the administration of the fourth dose of the vaccine against Covid-19, Graça Freitas says that the question “is not whether it is necessary, but for whom it is necessary in the future, and its time”. “Whoever gives this indication is an evolution of evolution. If a new wave arises, it will have to be considered. Whether during or not there is a new vague pandemic, we consider for later, closer to winter”, he explains.
Graça Freitas is still increased, although high, “the insufficiency is not increasing, stable and with a tendency to increase” and emphasizes that the numbers of reinfections are being determined.
Regarding the complaint, the director-general of Health does not advance numbers, but it is “with strong activity and high symptoms, although mortality is low”.
DGS appeals to finalists who were “careful”
Regarding the trips of finalists, Graça Freitas appeals to the younger ones who continue “with care” on their return, specifically, using the mask, sanitizing with hands and practicing physical distance, “so they do not spread the disease if they had contracted it”. The DGS also asks that in case of symptoms, the test is done and, if it is positive, you must isolate yourself. If they are asymptomatic or have had contact with someone positive, they should be tested.
The Government on Tuesday extended the alert situation due to the Covid-19 pandemic until April 22, according to the statement from the Council of Ministers.
The alert situation, the lowest level of response to disaster situations in the Civil Protection Basic Law, ended on the 18th.
“The resolution that extends the declaration of the alert situation, within the scope of the April-19 pandemic, until 11:59 pm on April 22, 2022, was approved,” the statement said.
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According to the Government, the resolution “keeps the measures currently in force unchanged”.
Among the measures in force is the mandatory use of a mask in public indoor spaces, health services and transport.
For those who do not have the booster dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, the negative test for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus remains mandatory in visits to homes and in vaccine establishments against Covid-19, taking into account that they are groups of special vulnerability.
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On Tuesday, Graça Freitas recalled that the end of the obligation to wear a mask is dependent on mortality figures and that Portugal has not yet reached that value.
“Despite having values that are not very serious, the indicator that we wanted to see come down to decide other measures was mortality. There is a value, which is the value of 20 deaths per million inhabitants in 14 days, which is the value that ECDC considers safe for countries.
Graça Freitas revealed what point is in Portugal: “We were on a very good path for the future, when the curve of mortality is now at a level of stability, but above that value. This last week it was 28.5 deaths per million inhabitants in those 14 days.”
“It’s not a mask alone that makes a number. But what we have is small, this number will remain, when we reduce another restrictive measure that opens again once, even if, and we again see an increase in cases “, he concluded.