The President of the Republic has today decreed the modification of the state of emergency in force and its confirmed its renewal for another fifteen days, until January 30th, to allow measures to contain the Covid-19.
"The renewal of the state of emergency until 23:59 on January 30, which I just signed, has a very urgent and precise purpose: to try contain and reverse the accelerated growth of the pandemic, visible, in recent days, in cases, hospitalizations, intensive care and, even more, in deaths ", says Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in a note published on the Presidency of the Republic website.
This decree modifies the state of emergency currently in force, with new rules that apply from Thursday 14th January across the last two days of the previous decree, which ends at 23:59 on 15 January, and renews it for a further fifteen days, from 00:00 on Saturday 16th January until 23:59 on the 30th January.
The prime minister commented that the new confinement will be similar to that of March and the measures will be reviewed within 15 days after the beginning of the confinement if the situation improves, and "some measures may then be lightened".
"Schools are a big topic of divergence" but António Costa guarantees that they are not a "contamination factor". "Nothing justifies the closure of schools for children up to 12 years old", he said. Regarding these students and those older, up to the 12th year, the measures are still to be decided.
The prime minister also said that today we can expectto have more than 7 thousand people infected and that the vaccine will not, for now, guarantee group immunity. "The vaccination period is going to be very long."
Finally, in a summary of the measures, he also called for the use of a mask, hand hygiene and social distance.
This is the ninth decree of the state of emergency during the current Covid-19 pandemic.
Original article available in Portuguese at http://postal.pt/
Comments
According to the Flumart tool the graph shows a flat line of flu cases reported from week 17 to week 53 of 2020.
Quoting Reg:No I'm wondering why there are no reported cases of flu last Autumn.
Steve
As I said in my previous post the flu virus has NOT disappeared (just extract the months April to January). It is still around and could start spreading again at any time. You are wondering why is it down from previous years? I would have thought the answer is pretty obvious. But as I don't seem to get the message across perhaps this link makes it clearer.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/covid19-is-surging-but-flu-cases-are-down#The-bottom-line
You can still post Twitter feeds from your beds at home but don't take up a ventilator or a place in ITU.
Thank you for showing us the flumart tool that confirms what David's graph is showing ie the flu abruptly stopped at the end of week 12 in 2020. If you pick previous years you will notice an increase in flu cases in Autumn, but no so for 2020.
Steve I will try to make it easier for you to understand: If I say the Ski season runs from December to the end of March it does not mean that snow has disappeared and you cannot ski in the Summer (glacier skiing or skiing in the southern hemisphere) - you get the gist???
The annotated graph that David found on his Twitter
Bible shows what types of flu viruses are or have been in circulation. I assume the data is used to produce a vaccine that is most effective for the coming season. I have extracted for you the period from April 2020 to January 2021.
https://apps.who.int/flumart/Default?ReportNo=10
So you can see that the flu viruses still exist and could surge again.
Whilst I am writing this another record number of 167 have been killed by Covid, 276 people have been hospitalised of which 664 are in ICU. So your rather stupid comment regarding restrictions to minimise the spread is rather superfluous.
I see that is why the flu disappeared, it has been told by Reg not to go past week 12.
For a condition that kills 100s of thousands of people a year isn't it worth investigating why it almost disappeared in 2020?
Wait I hear you say masks, hand washing and social distance made it disappear, and all this time the WHO and doctors been pushing for flu vaccines. If only they made everyone wear maks every winter.
1st sentence. I bet you wished you hadn't written that and then clicked Send.
The rest. A reasonable point from Reg, I'd have thought.
Why not have both? Handwashing, masks and other social distancing, ie not going to work, when you have flu so you infect fewer people, and also vaccinate? Win-win.
I see that is why the flu disappeared, it has been told by Reg not to go past week 12.
For a condition that kills 100s of thousands of people a year isn't it worth investigating why it almost disappeared in 2020?
Wait I hear you say masks, hand washing and social distance made it disappear, and all this time the WHO and doctors been pushing for flu vaccines. If only they made everyone wear maks every winter.
The covid clarity tweet. I can't find that graph on the WHO website. Any kind soul care to help with that?
Flu season lasts about 13 weeks. It starts in the autumn and finishes in the spring. The pretty graph you posted points to week 12 (16 - 22 March).
Could it have something to do with governments shutting borders mid-March and/or warning against any unnecessary travel? The more people travel the easier it is for a virus to mutate.
I have had flu twice it is not fun I can assure you but the thought of long term Covid fills me with dread. Thank god a lot of people are now getting vaccinated against flu and hopefully Covid.
I read the Tribunal de Relaçao verdict, when we had the links posted, by you, David or whomever back in November. I may be wrong but I recall saying something like those German people were treated rather poorly by the authorities. If I didn't say it then I say it now.
But, that's not what I asked for. I asked for the Supreme Court confirmation. Can you - or David if he's around - give me the link, please?
If you think that article in the Guardian makes the WHO criminal, I hope I never come up before a court that you preside over (unlikely, I know). The WHO is damned if it does and damned if it doesn't.