Are we still supposed to have the booster shots or has the pandemic gone away? I very seldom see anyone in the Algarve wearing a mask now but when I watch the HK news on TV at least half of the population there is still wearing them while walking in the streets, such is the fear created by the government. It would be good to think it’s over.

It's still around, and you should be getting a booster, probably annually, but between people being immunized and people who have some immunity from having had the disease, not to mention many of the most vulnerable people having died from it, or being effectively disabled and unable to leave their home, there isn't much "community infection" at the moment, though it will likely increase each winter.

The Far Eastern countries had far more effective lock-downs and very widely observed masking, but retrospectively, that just appears to have postponed the huge waves of infection by a couple of years - South Korea and Japan had massive infection spikes after infections had already subsided in Europe and the US.

I'd like another booster before I go traveling soon; but as far as I know, it's still only available through the public health service and they're rather stingy about it.

We get other vaccinations at the pharmacy or private hospital.

Hopefully we will get a booster in the autumn.
In UK at the moment and the numbers(and hospital admissions and deaths) are going up!

We have two friends, Faro natives, with Covid at the moment. I had my fourth booster in Wales in May but my wife who is under 75 didn't. No-one we know in Portugal has been called for a booster this year.

We went to Paris for a few days, came back and my wife and mother-in-law both had covid. Thankfully both had only a day feeling rough, so even though it has been a while since they were vaccinated, it was largely like having a bad cold for a day.

I didn't get it (well, zero symptoms). But then again, I didn't have any symptoms last year when I got it for first time.

I have had 4 jabs, last booster was around christmas (Setubal). Wife wasn't called up since she wasn't over 50 like me. I'd definitely get another when I get called up. But find it hard to be particularly worried about covid now that we've had it in the family couple of times and even the ones with symptoms have basically had a cold. I am pretty relaxed about it now, vaccination has relegated it to being a minor annoyance at best.

People there used to wear masks there back in the 90s when I was there a lot. Maybe not half, but a fair proportion. I think due to pollution and general fear of diseases etc. Covid just added some justification to the general climate of fear they already had.

There are a good many cases every week in the UK, into the thousands, but as random or even targeted testing has been stopped it's difficult to know, but it hasn't gone away, and especially Long Covid is becoming a lot more of a problem. I wear a mask when out shopping every time, about the only one who does though, and I have regular boosters, at my age this is every 6 months.

2 months ago, I went off to local centro de saude for quick finger prick bloodtest, felt just fine, BP checked at same time...result perfect.
8 hours later, sore throat, getting worse by the hour, next morning felt rough, muscles aching, stayed in bed asleep all day, 2 days of that, felt like flu (not had for 20 years).
A week later when I thought it had all gone, it started in the chest, coughing......still got remnants of it 7 weeks later. Bought a Covid check kit from Continente, result negative.
No idea what it was but could have been covid, Had all 4 jabs so far.

I arrived in hk with my family in 1990 and left three years ago so we went through SARS. Masking then was nothing like it has been for Covid. But you are correct about the fear of disease with the locals. Even today people will often wait a minute or two to sit in a metro seat after someone else gets off the train, hovering there while waiting. When our first public golf course opened in the mid 90s there used to be spike marks on the toilet seats in the locker room!

Not good to hear that. I went back to HK in April to visit wife and while I was there she caught covid after a client meeting. It didn't affect her very much at all - just a bit rough and barking for two or three days. A couple of days after she started barking I did as well and felt totally rotten for a several days after but continued to test negative. Since then I've maintained an early morning cough and what I can only describe as a brain fog. I was also diagnosed with high blood pressure after I got back although I think this could have been building up for some time what with my solo situation here having still not sold the HK house. I think I'm now on my fifth different BP medication, and the previous one gave me gout, which is still lingering and getting on my nerves. It was bad enough limping on my damaged right leg due to my bike accident but now I'm limping on both. The locals must think I'm very old...