The beaches of the Algarve are seeing the first holidaymakers return, the steep streets of Lisbon are reconnecting with the swarms of tourists and the music festivals are ringing out their amps. In Portugal, tourism has returned to pre-pandemic levels and most restrictions have been lifted. But the latest wave of Covid-19, attributed to the spread of Omicron’s BA.5 subvariant, is of growing concern to health authorities. To the point that many experts are now pleading for the return of the mask indoors, or even outdoors if there are crowds.
With nearly 30,000 new cases per day, 592 deaths in April and 863 in May, the epidemic figures are reminiscent of those of February. 1is June, 47 people died of Covid-19 in a single day.
By far the European Union country most affected by the pandemic, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, and the second in the world after Taiwan, Portugal has an incidence of 3,559 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. over 14 days (compared to 405 in France), a test positivity of 54.4%, and a mortality of 43.6 per million inhabitants over 14 days (compared to 12.1 in France). Hospitals are more spared than in previous waves.
The Portuguese barely had time to savor the lifting of most of the anti-Covid measures when the curves panicked again. While the obligation to wear the mask was lifted on April 22 – with the exception of public transport, health centers and residences for the elderly -, on May 19, the director general of public health, Graça Freitas, was already recommending its return to offices and outdoor events. “If I’m alone in my office, with the window open, I don’t put on a mask. If someone comes into my office, I put on a mask,” she explained very schematically during an interview on the television channel TVI.
Faced with the incomprehension of the inhabitants, the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, ruled out the return to port compulsory and generalized use of the mask, and Mme Freitas felt that“At this stage, a recommendation [était] enough”. Portugal is indeed one of the leaders of the most vaccinated countries in Europe – almost 95% of the adult population received two doses, and 76% received three. But the director of public health pointed out that the new subvariant was transmitted “more than quickly” and had “the ability to evade our immune system”, while specifying that it did not seem more serious.
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