An outbreak of Legionella has led to the temporary closure of the municipal swimming pool complex and changing rooms at Olhão’s Municipal Stadium.

In a statement, Olhão City Council informed that signs of the development of Legionella bacteria had been detected in the Municipal Stadium swimming pool and changing rooms’ hot water system.

In conjunction with the Health Authority, the municipality decreed the closure of the entire swimming pool complex “to make way for a more in-depth intervention, which may have to involve replacing the components of the hot water system”.

According to the municipality, the entire pool complex remains closed because the procedures necessary to eradicate the bacteria have not yet had the desired effect.

As for the Municipal Stadium, the City Council is still awaiting the results of the last counter-analysis, which will dictate the reopening of the changing rooms.

Given the signs of an outbreak of Legionella, the immediate temporary closure of the changing rooms of the two facilities was determined to carry out the necessary procedures for its eradication, “namely through thermal and chemical shocks aimed at controlling the spread of the bacteria”.

“Despite the greater investment in financial and human resources and the maximum attention given to this issue, the number of suspected occurrences and development of Legionella cultures in municipal equipment has increased”, says the municipality.

Despite the constraints these closures are causing its users, the municipality considers it “fundamental to eradicate the bacteria by all necessary means, to guarantee safe access for all residents”.