Portugal, whose hospitals are under pressure because of the Covid-19, rejected the offer of the Spanish region of Galicia to welcome patients, believing to be able to cope with the situation, said this Sunday the ministry of health.
The Portuguese government thanks the offer of Galicia (north-west) “to help Portugal and especially the north of the country”, but “for the moment the hospitals in the region are able to cope with the needs”, indicated a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health. Hospitals in the north of the country have even recorded a “slight drop in the number of patients” which has enabled the region to welcome patients from other regions of the country in recent days, particularly from Lisbon, the ministry said.
The rhythm of daily contagions in Portugal, subjected since mid-January to general confinement, continued the decline started a few days ago, while the country has been in recent weeks the epicenter of the epidemic caused by the coronavirus in Europe. The country has registered 3,508 new cases in 24 hours and 204 deaths, according to the latest report from the Directorate General of Health.
Despite an increase in hospitalizations, the number of patients in intensive care, which had exceeded the threshold of 900 people on Friday for the first time since the start of the pandemic, fell to 865 on Sunday. The drop in new cases is “not immediately reflected in hospitalizations,” said Dr. José Artur Paiva, president of the College of Intensive Care College of Physicians, which predicts a peak in hospitalizations next week.
To help its caregivers, Portugal has already accepted help from Germany. This Wednesday sent a team of 26 military doctors and nurses who will be responsible for an intensive care unit with eight beds, installed in a private hospital in Lisbon. Portugal also indicated on Friday that it was studying a proposal from Austria, which offered to accommodate a dozen patients in order to relieve Portuguese hospitals.
AFP / LQ
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