Here we follow all developments on the spread of SARS-CoV-2 on an international scale.
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9:55 am – Africa with 334 more deaths and 18,959 more infected in 24 hours
Africa recorded 334 deaths due to covid-19 and an additional 18,959 new cases of infection in the last 24 hours, now accounting for 52,824 deaths caused by the new coronavirus, according to official data.
According to the African Union’s Center for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the African continent now has 2,215,216 cases of people infected among the 55 members of the African Union.
The number of recovered in the last 24 hours was 29,328, for a total of 1,892,013.
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9:40 am – Olympic Games will cost another two billion euros
Tokyo Olympic Games organizers announced today that the sporting event postponed to 2021 will cost 2.1 billion euros more than was anticipated.
The summer Olympics have been postponed until next year due to the SARS CoV-2 pandemic.
According to the organizing committee, the additional amounts are due to operating costs and the financial impact caused by the necessary measures to be taken against the new coronavirus, which will be installed in the games.
The Tokyo2020 Olympic Games, which are expected to involve about 11,000 athletes, will take place between 23 July and 8 August next year, after being postponed due to the covid-19 pandemic.
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9:22 am – Slovenia to conduct mass tests
Slovenia’s health minister announced that the country will receive 100,000 rapid test kits next week.
“Due to the large increase in daily cases, we cannot track all of your contacts, which is why mass testing makes sense,” said Tomaz Gantar.
The official also revealed that the restriction measures that have been in place since mid-November – including the ban on public meetings, closing companies and suspending public transport – will be extended for another week.
The country of two million inhabitants was seriously hit by a second wave of SARS-CoV-2 infections. Almost 1600 people died and more than 80,000 cases were confirmed.
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9h10 – Performance award for SNS professionals published in Diário da República
The Diário da República published the Decree-Lei which provides for the increase in vacation days and the attribution of a performance bonus to health professionals corresponding to 50 percent of the basic remuneration.
The diploma establishes the conditions of access to the benefits of those who were especially exposed to the risk of infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, during the period corresponding to the first declaration of the state of emergency and its renewals, from March 19 to May 2 2020.
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9:05 am – South Korea reports 629 new cases, new daily high in nine months
Of the 629 new infections, 463 were registered in Seoul, where about 226 million people live, more than half of the country’s population.
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8h54 – United Kingdom facilitates measures during Christmas
The UK will ease restrictions between 23 and 27 December to allow family reunions.
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8:42 am – Hospital de Gaia opens new Intensive Care Unit and receives first patients
The Vila Nova de Gaia / Espinho Hospital Center (CHVNGE) opens today the new Intensive Care Unit, with an investment of 5.7 million euros, and already receives the first patients, a source of this equipment told Lusa.
This unit, in the Porto district, was built in 90 days and has 28 beds, including six isolation rooms, being equipped with state-of-the-art fans and monitors, the hospital said.
With 1,650 square meters, the ICU will have a complete air renovation every six minutes, isolation rooms with positive and negative pressure, plus two ECMO (extracorporeal circulation device essential for the treatment of critically ill patients) and large areas for breaks and work for professionals, “having guaranteed natural light in every space”, he explained.
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8:30 am – India with over 500 dead in the last 24 hours
India recorded 540 deaths due to covid-19 and 36,596 infected in the past 24 hours, officials said today.
The country, which has maintained a downward trend in the number of contagions, now has 139,188 deaths registered since the beginning of the pandemic.
New cases are steadily declining after they peaked in mid-September, when they were around 100,000 a day.
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8h16 – German Minister of Health says numbers in Germany are too high
Germany recorded 23,449 new cases and 432 more fatalities in the last 24 hours.
8:16 am – Russia with 27,403 new cases and 569 deaths in the last 24 hours
8h15 – Italy imposes Christmas quarantine for national and foreign tourists
8h14 – Brazil reaches 175 thousand dead after adding 755 deaths in 24 hours
8h10 – Prohibition of movement between municipalities
Circulation between municipalities in the continental territory is prohibited between 11 pm today and 11:59 pm on Tuesday, with 10 exceptions to the measure provided for in the state of emergency, decreed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Find out more here.
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8h07 – Teachers warn that pandemic is harming students and ask for more means. Find out more here.
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8h05 – Hospital de Gaia opens new Intensive Care Unit and receives first patients
8:00 am – Infarmed recommends not using masks from the manufacturer Shantou T&K Medical Art
The National Medicines Authority today recommended not to use masks for clinical use, from the manufacturer Shantou T&K Medical equipment factory Co, Lda, after being banned for non-compliance with the requirements established by the European Union. Find out more here.
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The essentials of the last hours:
The Portuguese vaccination plan against Covid-19 was presented this Thursday afternoon at Infarmed, in Lisbon, and is divided into three phases. The vaccine is expected to arrive in Portugal in early January and the priority groups include patients over 50, professionals and residents in homes and health and armed forces professionals.
President of the Republic announces renewal of state of emergency until January 7
After hearing the Government, “who pronounced this evening in a favorable sense”, the President of the Republic sent “the draft diploma” to the Assembly of the Republic for authorization renewing, for a period of 15 days, until December 23, the state of emergency for the entire national territory, but announcing a new renewal until January 7, allowing the Government to adopt measures necessary to contain the spread of the Covid-19 disease and from now on announce measures planned for the Christmas and New Year periods “, read on the official page of the Presidency of the Republic.
“This renewal will enable the Government to maintain and take measures that it deems appropriate to combat the pandemic and continue to mitigate the risks of contagion”, reads the draft decree. “The presentations by the experts at the meeting on Infarmed on December 3 indicated that about two weeks after the declaration of the State of Emergency, on November 9, a lower risk index of effective transmission of the disease (Rt) began to occur and the average rate of new cases, as a result of the limitation of personal contacts, resulting directly and indirectly from the measures taken “, the document states.
“In view of these prospects, it is foreseeable that this renewal will have to extend at least for a period until 7 January, now allowing the Government to predict and announce the measures to be taken during the Christmas and New Year periods, all the more so since the good news about vaccination will only start to have widespread repercussions throughout the year 2021 “, concludes the President of the Republic.
This is the sixth diploma of the state of emergency of Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa in the current context of the 19-covid pandemic, to take effect between 9 and 23 December, and will be debated and voted on Friday in the Assembly of the Republic.
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