The Health Minister admitted today that it will be necessary to maintain some containment and prevention measures until the vaccine for the new coronavirus, responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic, is discovered.
"The expectation of returning to normality will always have to be tempered until the discovery of the vaccine by measures of restraint, containment and prevention that we cannot, as far as we know, completely eliminate", said Marta Temido.
At the daily press conference to update information on the Covid-19 pandemic, the minister acknowledged that forecasts for the future are marked by great uncertainty, but added that Portugal will continue to follow international recommendations.
Referring to the statements of the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on the possibility of limiting the contact of older people with their surroundings, at least until the end of the year, the Minister of Health said that if, arrival at the time, this is the most appropriate recommendation, then it will be followed by the Portuguese health authorities.
In an interview with the German newspaper Bild, to be published today, Leyen warned that while there is no vaccine “it is necessary to limit, as much as possible, the contacts of seniors”, particularly those who live in nursing homes.
“It is clear that we live in a global context, what is the situation of a European country influences others and, therefore, we are far from having won this pandemic”, acknowledged Marta Temido, adding that the priority is “to follow the best at every moment. recommendations and the best available information”.
Looking at the action of the Government and Portuguese health authorities so far, the minister considered that the preparation for the pandemic was adequate, stressing that at this moment one of the main concerns is to ensure that there are no failures, despite the context of global scarcity.
Marta Temido also underlined that the Government has been trying to give a balanced response that ensures, as much as possible, the balance between the value of life in society and the value of the functioning of the economy, without harming the value of public health.
"We know that other countries that opted for very radical views, either leaving everything open or closing everything, did not have as good results and had to make small corrections", he said, considering that constant epidemiological surveillance and the introduction of corrective measures and mitigators according to the current context are the best alternative.
The Health Minister warned, however, that the little knowledge that still exists about the new coronavirus and about the disease implies that all decisions that have been and will be taken are associated with some level of risk.
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