Seven strippers have tested positive for Covid-19 at a ‘gentlemen’s club’ in the Azores.
The resulting fall-out has created ‘panic’, reports tabloid Correio da Manhã.
Already ‘hundreds of tests have been undertaken’ and authorities estimate that the number of infections will be “very superior” to the seven initially flagged.
The problem, naturally, is in contact tracing all the clients of Doll House Gentleman’s Club in Ponta Delgada.
Says the paper, a communiqué has gone out appealing to ‘clients who frequented the bar on the days October 30, 31 and November 1,2 and 3 to contact Saúde Azores (tel 808 246024) in order to undergo a Covid test.
The communiqué has also asked clients who did frequent the club on the days mentioned to place themselves under prophylactic isolation.
This is a “particularly difficult” situation, regional health director Tiago Lopes has told the paper, as it has been established that “practically all the clients were high risk” (this may mean, of advanced age).
The Doll House has been closed in the meantime.
Up till now the Azores has fared relatively well during the pandemic. In all the months since Covid-19 arrived in Portugal there have been a little over 400 cases and only 15 deaths.
Entry to the islands has been strictly controlled, with visitors and returning residents having to show a negative Covid test and then be subjected to further testing six days later.
The majority of infections up till now have been on São Miguel island, of which Ponta Delgada (the Azorean capital) is the principal town.
