Portugal extends lockdown and closes border over 'terrible' Covid outbreak
Amid record death toll and struggling hospitals, Ant?nio Costa admits failings in handling outbreak
Portugal’s parliament has voted to extend the current lockdown until the middle of February and announced the closure of its border with Spain, as the prime minister warned that the country is in a “terrible” situation and facing “the worst moment” of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Thursday, Portugal reported a record 303 deaths from the virus and 16,432 new cases. To date, the country has registered 685,383 cases and 11,608 deaths.
The current lockdown, which came into effect on 15 January, will now run until at least 14 February. Non-essential services are closed, remote work is compulsory where possible and schools are shut. The Portuguese government also announced that it would close it border with Spain for two weeks from Friday.
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Costa said the situation had worsened partly because his government relaxed restrictive measures between Christmas and the end of the year, but also because of the virulence of a new variant of the virus first detected in Britain.
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https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...so-far-says-pm
Okieman Comment: I was unable to copy and paste a graph that is in this article. The graph is the number of Coronavirus deaths per day for Portugal. I consider it a terrifying graph, because I feel it may be a harbinger of what these new variants are going to do to Europe and the rest of the world. The article mentions the new UK variant, but I have to wonder if the Brazil variant is not also in the mix. Portugal and Brazil have a lot of interaction travel wise. And it is not unrealistic to believe that the South African variant could be present as well. While I do not remember exactly which countries have done so, a number have cut off travel from Portugal along with the UK, South Africa and Brazil. So they suspect the presence of the new variants is there. Follow the link to the article to see the graph at least.
Amid record death toll and struggling hospitals, Ant?nio Costa admits failings in handling outbreak
Portugal’s parliament has voted to extend the current lockdown until the middle of February and announced the closure of its border with Spain, as the prime minister warned that the country is in a “terrible” situation and facing “the worst moment” of the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Thursday, Portugal reported a record 303 deaths from the virus and 16,432 new cases. To date, the country has registered 685,383 cases and 11,608 deaths.
The current lockdown, which came into effect on 15 January, will now run until at least 14 February. Non-essential services are closed, remote work is compulsory where possible and schools are shut. The Portuguese government also announced that it would close it border with Spain for two weeks from Friday.
<snip>
Costa said the situation had worsened partly because his government relaxed restrictive measures between Christmas and the end of the year, but also because of the virulence of a new variant of the virus first detected in Britain.
<snip>
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...so-far-says-pm
Okieman Comment: I was unable to copy and paste a graph that is in this article. The graph is the number of Coronavirus deaths per day for Portugal. I consider it a terrifying graph, because I feel it may be a harbinger of what these new variants are going to do to Europe and the rest of the world. The article mentions the new UK variant, but I have to wonder if the Brazil variant is not also in the mix. Portugal and Brazil have a lot of interaction travel wise. And it is not unrealistic to believe that the South African variant could be present as well. While I do not remember exactly which countries have done so, a number have cut off travel from Portugal along with the UK, South Africa and Brazil. So they suspect the presence of the new variants is there. Follow the link to the article to see the graph at least.
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