“Portugal is about to enter the 3rd phase of the pandemic, that of mitigation, which is the most critical”, said António Sales, Secretary of State for Health, at the daily press conference to assess the Covid-19 outbreak.
This fact, said the member of the Government, “demands from all of us increased responsibilities. The State is responsible for preparing the NHS to respond to citizens. Each one of us is responsible for self-protection and, not least, the protection of those who are dearest to us, namely those over 70 years of age».
This is because «about 80% of the deaths registered to date have been of people aged 70 years and over».
Graça Freitas, general director of Health, present at the same press conference, explained that “we are currently in phase 3.2. This means we have community broadcasting. It's not exuberant or uncontrolled yet, but we already have it», he warned.
Thus, today, at midnight, "a new plan will be activated, in which the containment measures will be moved to mitigation measures", reinforced Graça Freitas.
“The transition phase may have some turmoil, but we are here to assist everyone. We are here to resolve and correctly refer patients and to provide assistance to patients according to the degree of severity of their disease», said the Director-General of Health.
António Sales also spoke of the protective equipment, which will be “distributed where they are most needed”, as they arrive.
"At the same time, we continue to identify opportunities in the market to ensure that the flow meets the country's needs, which at this stage are naturally greater, while demand grows."
As for the 80 tests that would arrive by the end of the week, "they haven't arrived yet, we expect them to arrive by Sunday." The number of tests has kept and kept up with the numbers and cases and they have been dynamic».
Currently, he says, the daily testing capacity, between public and private, "is more than 8600 tests".
António Sales took the opportunity to deny that there is any type of tampering with the cases, even affirming that although there may be "small disagreements", there is "no objective to deceive, lie or omit".
“Let me talk about confidence, the confidence we all need to have in this difficult situation. The released data report at midnight of the previous day, upon notification from the doctors, so it is natural that when the data is released, those in the field have a different perception of the published bulletin», he added.
“There are data that are absolutely right. The number of deaths is unquestionable, they enter at midnight on an electronic platform», he assured.
Then, “there are finer data, such as those by municipality, and this variable may not be filled in on the form. In other words, we can only collect information from the cases that are filled out in the form», he said.
“We all have to avoid confirmed cases that are not, inaccuracies, cacophony. We all have responsibilities», he defended.
(In update)
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