Covid: how Portugal was the leader in deaths to zero victims in 3 months
While other European countries still face lockdown, Portugal will reopen much of its economy on Monday
From champion of deaths and cases in the European Union to the only country without deaths by covid-19 in 24 hours in the region. Portugal experienced two extremes during this pandemic in a short span of just three months.
On Tuesday (27/04), the Directorate-General for Health of Portugal, an organ linked to the country's Ministry of Health, recorded in its bulletin 196 new cases of covid-19 in the last 24 hours and zero deaths.
The country of 10 million inhabitants has accumulated more than 834 thousand cases and 16 thousand deaths by covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic.
Three months ago, Portugal was the leader in the number of cases and deaths by covid-19 in the European bloc.n the last two weeks of January, Portugal had registered the highest infection rate for covid-19 in the European Union: 1,429.43 per 100 thousand inhabitants, according to data from the European Center for the Prevention and Control of Diseases. The country also had the highest death rate in the European Union: 247.55 per million inhabitants.
Brazilian doctor Marcelo Matos told BBC News Brasil at the time that Portugal was experiencing a "tsunami" and was a "powder keg" , due to the high proportion of elderly people and smokers in the population.
Now these numbers have collapsed - the incidence of the disease has dropped from 1,400 to 67 for every 100,000 inhabitants - and the country is experiencing a moment of optimism and reopening.
The president of the Institute of Public Health at the University of Porto, Henrique Barros, said this week at a conference on the pandemic that "if everything goes smoothly", Portugal may no longer have cases of coronavirus as of September.
"By September, if everything goes smoothly, we hope to have no cases," he said, stressing that it is necessary to maintain the current vaccination plan.
On Friday, the long state of emergency in the country, which was enacted in November and lasted 172 days, will end. And as of Monday (05/05), Portugal will enter the last phase of what it calls " deflation " - the gradual end of the strong lockdown measures that were imposed at the beginning of the year.
The measures include:
- reopening of restaurants, cafes and pastry shops, with a maximum of 10 people per table, with no time limit;
- release of all sports;
- permission for physical activity outdoors and in gyms;
- holding large events in external spaces; indoor events with reduced capacity;
- holding weddings and baptisms with a maximum of 50% capacity.
Closed borders, vaccine and lockdown
But what did Portugal do to revert its situation in such a short time?
The main measures taken by the country were investment in the vaccination program, the enactment of severe lockdowns throughout the European winter and the strict closure of borders - especially when new variants of the coronavirus appeared in countries such as the United Kingdom, Brazil and South Africa.
Fado bars have reopened in Portugal, but customers and even musicians must wear masks much of the time
In terms of vaccination, Portugal has been suffering from the same delays as the European Union - which entered into a legal imbroglio with the pharmaceutical companies that supply the vaccines.
Even so, the government managed to vaccinate all Portuguese over 80 years old, the age group with the highest lethality by covid and will soon have vaccinated everyone over 60 years old. More than 21% of people in Portugal have already received the first dose of the vaccine - against only 12% in Brazil.
The government is confident that, at the current rate, it will be possible to accelerate this proportion. The Secretary of State for Health, Diogo Serras Lopes, said this week that the country could achieve collective immunity "at the beginning and not at the end of the summer".
Border control was also another important measure. At the height of the pandemic, Portugal reinforced the blockade of the coronavirus, prohibiting all non-essential trips abroad. The borders were closed with Spain and for months there were few flights arriving from Lisbon even from other European countries. Flights to countries like Brazil came to be completely suspended and resumed only last week.
Portugal faced 172 days of state of emergency due to covid-19
The country also adopted harsh containment measures, which helped to bring down the contagion rate in February and March. The reopening of schools has been delayed - from 5 February to 15 March.
The country also increased the hiring of foreign doctors, with one-year contracts, as hospitals recorded record levels of deaths. The country's medical staff was heavily affected, with 23,000 professionals contracting covid-19 in the middle of the pandemic.
Europe at lockdown
The economic reopening of Portugal contrasts with the situation of other countries in Europe.
Germany still records about 25,000 new cases and 300 deaths per day. Despite having a vaccination rate similar to that of Portugal, Germany did not have borders and flights as strict as Portugal.
Portugal was leading in the number of cases and deaths in Europe at the end of January
In addition, there is strong resistance to the lockdown, with a political dispute between the federal government and the states. Many lockdown measures were being defined only by the States. But in recent weeks, Chancellor Angela Merkel has adopted an "emergency brake" policy, with confinement measures enacted by the federal government in regions with more than 100 infected per 100,000 inhabitants. The measure is being challenged in the courts in 65 separate cases.
In the face of a lack of progress against the pandemic, some believe that the lockdown in Germany will need to be extended across much of the country until June.
France follows a similar schedule, with a lockdown still in effect in much of the country - which has recorded more than 30,000 cases and 300 deaths per day, on average.
Another European country that, like Portugal, is in an accelerated process of economic reopening is the United Kingdom.
In the British case, the biggest contrast in relation to other countries in the region is in vaccination: 49% of Britons have already received the first dose of the vaccine, against 22% in the European Union. The entire elderly population has already had access to the immunizer and now people aged 42 are receiving their doses.
Like Portugal, the United Kingdom faced a strict lockdown, which was enacted shortly before Christmas 2020 and only started to be released in early March.
The reopening of economic activities in the UK is at a much more advanced stage than on the European continent, with restaurants, bars and non-essential stores already in operation.
On May 17, the government is expected to release visits between people from different houses (with a maximum of four visitors) and to reopen cinemas in England.
Variants still worry
In Portugal, the authorities claim that the fight against the coronavirus is not yet over and suggest that the reopening may be interrupted or even reversed, in case of a covid-19 resurgence.
"If necessary, I will not hesitate to declare a new state of emergency," Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said on Tuesday, announcing that he will stop renewing the state of emergency - which had already been renewed on 15 occasions. . With this, Portugal will be in a state of "calamity", which still allows the government to adopt some restrictive measures, if necessary.
The British variant of the virus is still a concern, as it is growing among new cases of covid-19.
"15 days ago we had 83% of the covid-19 cases caused by the UK variant and now we estimate it to be 89, 90% as of yesterday [Monday]," said the coordinator of the study on diversity genetics of the new coronavirus in Portugal, João Paulo Gomes, according to the newspaper Diário de Notícias.
Still, the country is preparing to receive British and German tourists during the European summer months.
Until March, Portugal was still on the British government's "red" list - of countries with high travel restrictions for UK tourists. It is believed that throughout May, Portugal will enter the "green" list, the one with the least restrictions.
Portuguese beaches are among the favorites of British and German tourists, who account for a large part of tourism income in the country.
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