There are 89 active cases related to the Covid-19 outbreak related to the civil construction sector, in Portimão, which «were early isolated, in an anticipation action carried out by the Public Health Unit of Portimão, with the support of Civil Protection Municipality», announced the Portimonense Chamber.
According to the municipality, the causes of this outbreak, which affects "workers and cohabitants", are related to "risk behaviors, associated with failures in the use of personal protective equipment and vehement social moments inadvisable in this exceptional period. there are around two hundred active shipyards in the county, where dozens of subcontractor companies operate, covering several works in a few days».
The Chamber recalled that, as soon as the outbreak was known, a “muscled operation was carried out, coordinated by the local Health Authority, with the support of the Municipality of Portimão, through its Municipal Civil Protection Service, and in partnership with the ABC – Algarve BiomedicalCenter and CVP – Cruz Vermelha Portuguesa”, under which “it has been possible to carry out more than 2.000 rapid tests so far that have identified 10 positive cases early, in addition to the significant effort of PCR testing that the Regional Laboratory of Public Health – Dr. Laura Ayres dedicated to the municipality of Portimão, which made it possible to identify and isolate, in advance, the positive cases, which today have reached the number of 125 and put us above 240 cases/100.000 inhabitants».
«This collective effort was joined by the ACT – Authority for Working Conditions and the security forces, which, since March 18, constituted multidisciplinary teams (with elements from ACT, Public Health and Civil Protection), which they visited the main active shipyards in Portimão, covering 60 companies, where a team of nurses from ACES Barlavento, with the support of technicians from the Fire Department of Portimão, was able to carry out 475 harvests of workers at the site for a COVID-19 PCR test. This action allowed the early identification of positive cases and to investigate the epidemiological links in a fulminant way», added the municipality of Portimo.
After a first massive four-day testing action in Portimão Arena, with quick tests acquired by the Municipality from the ABC, «six positive cases were detected, followed by four proximity actions in the three parishes of the municipality, namely in the localities of Figueira , Mexilhoeira Grande, Ladeira do Vau and Montes de Alvor, in an operation carried out by the CVP at the request of the Health Authority, with the detection of three positive cases».
Last week, «the sectorial testing began, covering civil construction, markets, municipal services, civil protection agents, taxi drivers, bakeries, home support companies, private security, fishermen, commerce and other sectors of the community which, over the next few days, will continue to be tested en masse, methodically in accordance with the established plan».
"Currently, there is an average of 20 new cases per day and, with rare exceptions, they are all in prophylactic isolation, as they have been identified as a risk contact through epidemiological surveys carried out uninterruptedly, every day, including for purposes weekdays and holidays, which means that infected people are immediately isolated, thus breaking the contagion chains in the community».
On the other hand, «the rapid tests accelerate the identification and isolation process, since the institutional coordination and the integrated system established in Portimão since March 2020 allow, in record time, to share any positive results through the Command Post - COVID , with immediate isolation and PCR testing, all up to the minute».
In the coming days, the Chamber promises that it will continue testing and monitoring the proximity of the activity at the construction sites, «the same happening with the awareness actions that have been carried out with establishments that are operating (supermarkets, other large commercial surfaces and commercial establishments), while the security forces will control people in isolation'.
"The reinforcement of monitoring will also be maintained, as well as the carrying out of epidemiological surveys, surveillance of people in isolation and monitoring of school health", concluded the municipality.
Photos: Portimão Chamber
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