With the collapse of Portugal, Germany and Austria offer to receive patients

“Unity is strength”, the popular expression which, in the case of European countries, has never been truer. For the coronavirus pandemic, Portugal is on the brink of disaster, and to prevent it, Germany and Austria announced today that they will send help to this country. This action is provided in a complex context, whereThe two countries are trying to contain their own second wave of coronavirus.

Portugal has become one of the European countries most affected by the pandemic, since the day of yesterday they recorded 12,435 new cases and 293 deaths, according to data tracker Our World in Data. In addition, with a population of around ten million, the country has the the highest per capita deaths in the world.

Since the start of the pandemic, Portugal adds 711,018 infections and 12,179 deaths by coronavirus. In recent weeks, cases have rebounded, prompting authorities to tighten restrictions. Prime Minister António Costa last week warned of the threat of a health collapse. Today, the Europa Press news agency reports that there are only seven beds left of the 850 in available intensive care units (ICUs), for which he had to seek help from Germany.

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The German military responded quickly to this request, as it announced today that will send 27 medics and paramedics for three weeks, as well as medical equipment such as stationary and mobile ventilators and field beds for patients, as reported by the German magazine Spiegel. For his part, the Chancellor of Austria, the conservative Sebastian Kurz, offered Portugal treat your critically ill patients, announced today.

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And while Germany will provide aid to Portugal, it is also waging its own battle against the coronavirus. Federal Police Chief Dieter Romann accused the airlines violating virus containment protocol, after confirming that there was approximately 600 violations of sanitary procedures in the last six days. Romann denounced the entry into Germany of passengers from regions with high levels of coronavirus or where mutations have been identified. The passengers entered the country without any form of digital registration or without showing a negative test result.

As a result of this situation, airlines are threatened with fines of up to 25,000 euros (approximately $ 30,000). From January 30 Germany has banned the entry of countries with more contagious variants of the virus. The list includes Portugal, South Africa, UK, Ireland, and Brazil, and from today the African nations of Lesotho and Eswatini will be added.

The Robert Koch Institute (RKI), the government body in charge of infectious disease control, registered today 11,192 new cases and 399 deaths in the last 24 hours, a number less than last Sunday. This has increased the total number of cases reported since the start of the pandemic to 2,216,363 and 56,945 dead, according to the DPA news agency.

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In contrast, in Italy, the Ministry of Health has decided facilitate your measurements in 16 regions to February 1. These regions include Lazio (including the capital, Rome) and Lombardy, where Milan is located, the country’s financial center. After these new measures, no region is in the red zone, the strictest.

At the same time, Belgium imposed a night curfew And while there have been no major protests against these particular measures, there have been protests in the capital to demand an end to the tightening of restrictions. This day, Brussels police arrested at least 200 people who held an unauthorized demonstration in front of the central station of the Belgian capital. Police have been preparing for days to contain the complaints, which started in the Netherlands, where they are most prevalent.

pm / ds