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The current situation in Portugal due to the coronavirus is dramatic.
In the European country, which had passed through the “first wave” of the pandemic with relative success, the number of cases is skyrocketing and strong hospital pressure has led to the opening of field hospitals and the transfer of patients to the Portuguese islands. There is even a plan to send them overseas.
Portugal has recorded the highest rate of covid-19 infection in the European Union over the past 14 days: 1,429.43 per 100,000 population, according to the latest data from the European Center for Prevention and Control of diseases (ECDC, for its acronym in English).
It also has the highest death rate in the EU: 247.55 per million inhabitants.
Indeed, Portugal ended the month of January with the most tragic data since the start of the pandemic: 5,576 deaths (44.6% of the total) and 306,838 infected (42.6%).
According to the latest report from the Portuguese Directorate General of Health, since March, the country has accumulated 726,321 positive cases, of which 179,180 are active and 12,757 deaths.
Portuguese authorities and health experts attribute the huge increase in the number of cases and death rate mainly to two factors: the expansion of the UK variant of the coronavirus, which is more contagious, and a greater easing of restrictions on Christmas .
Collapsed hospitals
Hospitals in various regions of the country of 10 million people are facing a critical situation.
Lisbon has had to resort to field hospitals due to the dramatic growth in cases.
The situation is particularly dire in the Lisbon region, which accounts for half of the total infections and deaths reported in the country.
Proof of this are the images of ambulance lines waiting for hours for a space to be freed up to leave patients with covid in hospitals.
After resorting to field hospitals, three patients were transferred last Friday by helicopter from Lisbon to the Madeira archipelago, more than 960 km away.
With a total of 865 covid-19 patients in intensive care and 6,869 upstairs, Portuguese hospitals are short of beds, to which must be added the shortage of doctors and nurses.
Many Portuguese health workers migrate to other European countries, mainly the UK, where salaries are more competitive.
Portugal’s public health system has 850 intensive care beds assigned to covid-19 cases on its mainland, and there are 420 additional beds for patients with other conditions.
Christmas, “pandemic fatigue” and British strain
The big question is how Portugal, which had passed through the first wave of the coronavirus with figures far lower than those of neighboring countries, got to this point.
The number of coronavirus cases and deaths soared in January.
For public health experts, several factors explain the current situation in the country, including the relaxation of social interactions during the Christmas holidays – where travel was allowed throughout the territory and no limit was imposed on meetings. spread of the British strain.
“In November, we had acceptable values for the incidence of new cases, we did not have uncontrolled figures,” Carla Nunes, director of the National School of Public Health at Nova University in Lisbon, told BBC Mundo.
“What we think has happened is that people have made slight changes in their behavior, in the sense of being more permissive.”
Elisabete Ramos, professor at the Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto, agrees that the set of Christmas activities, “which are very important in our culture”, are one of the relevant factors to explain the increase spectacular cases.
The expert adds the impact of cold, which forces us to close spaces – facilitating the transmission of the virus – and affects our immune capacity.
Ramos also points to “pandemic fatigue” that causes people to follow restrictive measures less.
“Everyone is tired. Although the measures are similar, what we are seeing on the street is not the level of containment we saw last March,” he explains.
Portugal has been on lockdown since January 15.
“It’s the bad side of having worked well so far: we minimize the perception of risk, we think that we can break certain rules because nothing is happening.”
“(The Portuguese) were very responsible (in the spring) because they were panicked by what was happening in Spain and Italy”, also notes Nunes. “People were willing to lose what they had to lose because it was either that or death. That perception disappeared.”
“All of this was combined with the new variant, which at the time was unaware of its presence in Portugal”, adds Nunes.
At Christmas time, many Portuguese emigrants from the UK usually arrive in the country, as well as Brits who reside in the Portuguese country.
“At the time when many people returned, there were no specific measures at the (Portuguese) airports, what was happening was a bit hidden,” adds Nunes.
According to Prime Minister Costa, on January 28, the British variant already has a prevalence of 32% in the country, and it is only in Lisbon that this figure reaches 50% of cases.
In mid-January, Portugal suspended flights with the United Kingdom as well as with Brazil, a country with which it has close links and where another variant of the virus has emerged. Until Monday, no case had been recorded in Portugal of the Brazilian variant, nor of that detected in South Africa.
International aid
This situation led the Portuguese government to ask for help abroad, an appeal to which Germany and Austria have already responded.
From January 31, the Portuguese will only be able to go out for essential activities.
The German Defense Ministry announced on Sunday that it would send a medical team to Portugal.
A plane with 26 doctors and nurses and 50 artificial respirators will leave for Lisbon on Wednesday, according to a statement from the ministry.
For his part, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz has announced that his country will receive Portuguese patients in intensive care, after meeting with Portuguese Prime Minister Antnio Costa.
“This is a European solidarity request to help quickly and without bureaucracy to save lives. Austria has already accepted intensive care patients from France, Italy and Montenegro in the pandemic and is now also accepting patients intensive care unit from Portugal, ”Kurz wrote. Twitter account.
Under-Secretary of State and Health Antnio Lacerda Sales on Monday admitted the possibility of transferring patients abroad in case Portuguese hospitals could not respond.
Nunes and Ramos consider that the Portuguese public health system has reacted well and it is only now that it is at the limit.
“The lack of conditions – of beds or of personnel – for health systems is common to all countries as the overall needs are increasing,” says Ramos. “With such an impact, it was easy for our system to deteriorate.”
“But in fact, he adjusted very well because throughout the year solutions were found and only then did he hit his limit.”
Hardening of measures
Faced with this situation, the Portuguese authorities have chosen to protect themselves in an attempt to stop the advance of this wave of coronavirus.
Portugal has been confined since January 15, although measures were tightened from this Sunday to ensure that the Portuguese stay at home.
They can only go out for activities such as work – as long as telecommuting is not possible -, buy essentials, go to the doctor, help the elderly or dependent, play sports alone in the open air and do some exercise. short walks, during which it is forbidden to stay in parks or sit on benches.
Portugal has reinstated controls at the land border with Spain due to new measures against coronaviruses.
The government has stepped up police surveillance and officers can even require proof of residence to justify a walk near the house.
Educational centers have been closed since January 22, when a 15-day suspension of classes was ordered
In addition, the Portuguese will not be able to leave the country for the next 14 days by any means (air, land, rail, sea or river), except to return to their place of residence if it is abroad or by regrouping. family.
This means that Portugal has reinstated controls at the land border with Spain, although the two countries assure that it is not a question of a border closure, but rather of establishing limits.
Regarding checks at airports, travelers from countries with more than 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants must present a PCR with a negative result carried out up to 72 hours before take-off and remain in quarantine for 14 days on arrival .
When the state of emergency was renewed last week, the country’s president, recently re-elected Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, called for accountability.
“What we do until March will determine what happens in the spring, in the summer and who knows if until the fall.”
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