Five dead, less patients in hospital and further reductions in the overall caseload – but the ‘bad news’ is that the Algarve has suddenly entered authorities ‘danger zone’ when it comes to the Covid-19 ‘risk matrix’ (see above).
The idea, as has been constantly explained, is that the country stays within ‘safe parameters’: the Rt should stay below 1, cases should remain below 120 per 100,000, there should be less than 245 people in hospitals.
There are other stipulations, but the above are the ‘main ones’ – and the Algarve is failing on the first two points.
Nationally, numbers are ‘pretty good’ (and in comparison to the rest of Europe, Portugal is doing better than anywhere else) – but taken region-by-region, every mainland area is running with an Rt over 1 (except Lisbon/ Vale do Tejo).
The Algarve (as a region) has also just exceeded the red line of 120 cases per 100,000 inhabitants across the board, registering 125 cases per 100,000.
Monday signals the next steps for deconfinement, with the hospitality sector finally allowed to have people eating and drinking indoors, and further shops and even malls opening. With data as it is now, uncertainty is raging.
On a national level, the archipelago of the Azores is the ‘greatest worry’, with an Rt of 1.41.
News to welcome however has been the drop in the number of people in hospitals over the last 24-hours – and +667 ‘recoveries’ to set against almost as many ‘new cases’ (+649).
Today’s bulletin also shows that the percentage of deaths per number of cases is quietly dropping.
A few days ago the percentage of deaths per total number of cases was 2.04%, today it is 2.03%.
This shows the number of cases is not, for the time being, translating into serious illnesses and/ or deaths. Indeed – as we have said before – a lot of people who ‘register’ as positive in PCR tests for Covid-19 do not even feel ill, and many never go on to develop any symptoms to suggest that they are.
