At a time when the daily numbers of the pandemic in Portugal, and in the world, are growing at an unprecedented rate, there is a serious possibility that the World Championship of motorcycling may not get to accelerate in the Algarve, from 20 to 22 November. It was also possible to see the words of the Secretary of State for Health, Diogo Serras Lopes, at yesterday’s press conference of the General Directorate of Health, for the presentation of the daily epidemiological bulletin, with a new and substantial increase in cases of infection and hospitalizations. by Covid-19.
«The evolution of the pandemic means that all measures, all events and everything that will happen in the future are permanently evaluated and the best decisions are made according to what is the evolution of the pandemic and what happens over these days» , warned Diogo Serras Lopes, in response to the question about the cancellation of the last stage of the MotoGP World Championship, scheduled for the Autódromo Internacional de Portimão, to be a chance on the table.
Despite the measures adopted by the MotoGP circus, which include a charter flight to transport all the players between Valencia (stage of the next two races, the European GP, on November 8, and the Comunitat Valenciana GP, on 15, both on the Ricardo Tormo circuit) and Portimão, and the creation of the security bubble that has marked all stages of the World Cup, the truth is that the images from the last weekend on the Algarve route, with thousands of spectators gathered to see Formula 1, they are still too recent. And, worse, aggravated by the data released yesterday by the Regional Health Delegation of the Algarve, according to which 14 cases of Covid-19 were registered among the elements of the F1 teams that were in the Algarve, the majority detected in the tests carried out between 20 and 29 October, some due to symptoms and use of health units in the region.
Present at the weekend in Portimão, the regional health delegate, Ana Cristina Guerreiro, noticed some situations that “did not work very well” and that she would like to see changed in future events of the kind, naming vigilantes “not very firm in the requirement »of compliance with the use of the mask, and a mobility of the public that should not have been allowed,« as it was in the opinion ». He also considered the placement of barriers to prevent circulation, but not “an eventual exit in case of emergency”, alongside the “reduction in the number of authorized public”, among the solutions mentioned.
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