Another day of ‘good news’, tempered only by the constant referrals to Portugal’s Rt (transmission) number, which has inched up a notch to 0.94 (for Portuguese territory as a whole, including the archipelagos of Madeira and Azores).
Taking just the mainland, the Rt level is 0.93 – well within the ‘acceptable criteria’ outlined by experts.
All other indicators are down: incidence is down from 75.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants across all Portuguese territory to 70, with the mainland even less: 63.4 cases per 100,000. The ‘ideal’ for authorities is 50 cases per 100,000. But the ‘red line’ is 120 cases – so the situation today is basically good.
Otherwise, the bulletin shows that six people died in the last 24-hours following positive tests for Covid-19. There are now 10 less people in hospitals (the total number now down to 623) and six less in ICUs (the total number here down to 136).
The active case count is down to 28, 024 (a reduction of 155 cases in last 24-hours), and the number of people deemed ‘recovered’ after testing positive was +458.
New cases appeared most in the Lisbon and Vale do Tejo region (+139) – the area with all but one of the deaths); the north registered +93 new cases, no deaths, the centre +25 new cases, no deaths, the Alentejo +16 cases, one death, the Algarve +19 cases, no deaths, Madeira +8 cases, no deaths and Azores +9 cases, no deaths.
Into the last week before the country can reopen café and restaurant esplanades, the overall epidemiological picture is looking ‘good’.
There are now just a handful of boroughs with high incidences (over 240-479.9 cases per 100,000), of which Alcoutim in the Algarve is one, and Odemira in the Alentejo another.
The only borough with even higher incidence (between 480-959.5 cases per 100,000) is Machiço (in Madeira).
