liveaboard

The time has come to take this seriously;
https://www.portugalresident.com/mes...and-stay-home/

This is the text of the article above

Message to Portugal: “Cancel everything and stay home”

By
Portugal Resident
-
13th March 2020 As the country wakes up to the reality of a State of Alert – and numbers confirmed with the virus have leapt to 112 – MPs have been stressing the absolute necessity to ‘fall in line and do what we’re told’.

Said the PSD’s Ricardo Batista Leite, a doctor by profession, this morning: “Cancel everything straight away: that party, that conference, the wedding, baptism, stag’s night. Cancel everything and stay home. By doing so you will ensure there is one more doctor, one more nurse, one more bed available for everyone who needs to go to hospital”.

The truth has dawned that if we simply continue as we are, so many people will become infected that the health service will collapse.

Already over 100 medical professionals have contracted the virus and are therefore unable to work – and compared with the rest of Europe, Portugal has the least number of intensive care beds per 100,000 inhabitants (4.2 against Germany, at the top of the scale with 29.2 – and a European average of 11.5).

Measures announced by the government in the early hours of this morning include the hiring of new doctors and nurses, but without concerted efforts by the public to reduce their exposure to the virus, the recruitment drive will be meaningless.

As to the measures brought in to face up to this crisis, they fall into a number of brackets, principally ‘Labour and the Economy’, ‘Education and Public Services’ and ‘Health’.

Labour and the Economy

● All workers, whether self-employed or contracted, will be allowed time off to care for children under the age of 12. During the weeks that schools are closed, parents unable to go to work will be paid 66% of their normal base salaries/ earnings, 33% to be covered by employers and 33% to be paid by Social Security.
● Exceptional financial support will also be made available for the self-employed to the tune of ⅓ of their average earnings. The requirement to pay monthly ‘contributions’ has been deferred.
● A fund to support professional training – covering 50% of the wages of each worker up to the limit of the minimum national wage – is being created.
● 200 million euros in credit is being set up to support businesses, while micro-businesses in the tourist sector will be able to fall back on a 60 million credit line if they need to.
● In all, Ana Mendes Godinho, cited 2.3 billion euros will be set aside to support national businesses.

Addressing journalists in the early hours of the morning, economy minister Pedro Siza Vieira stressed the importance at this time of Portuguese people buying Portuguese produce, to help the national economy.

Education and Public Services

While older pupils have been given the message that these next two weeks ‘are not to be treated as holidays’, schools will be handing out work that can be done at home/ on children’s computers.

● Remote working will also be used more and more with regard to public services.
● Limits are to be set on the number of people being allowed into a State-run office at one time (to allow for safe distance between people) and expiry periods on documents during the State of Alert will also be ‘accepted’ without the imposition of fines.

Health

● Limits on staff overtime have been suspended
● Contracts for health professionals have been ‘simplified’
● The age-limit for doctors is to be suspended as retired professionals are re-hired.

Later today (Friday), minister for internal administration Eduardo Cabrita is due to address journalists on what ‘a State of Alert’ actually means for people’s everyday lives.

macliam

[QUOTE=liveaboard;12819940]The time has come to take this seriously;
https://www.portugalresident.com/mes...and-stay-home/

That long border to the east (and north) is a concern.............

Nem bom vento, nem bom casamento...... nem bom vírus

GeniB

This site will give you a daily accurate count of virus patients .. what their status is..country by country..

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

As expected Portugals count has risen to 154 cases but they are taking the necessary action to contain the spread as much as possible Unfortunately countries did not follow Hong Kong in immediately closing down the country at the first case.They have flatlined on the graph with no new cases by taking that draconian measure.- That took some guts. and foresight to do though .Plus they are an island which helps..

It's a chasing game now..with the only hope being that the temperatures will rise enough to kill the virus quickly here. We can only contribute by doing as directed ...and staying home and keeping a distance from each other as much as possible.. As someone in the 'At risk' category I will be sending my daughters to the shops for groceries ,or going to the less used supermarkets ...All rather unfortunate for my ED and granddaughter visiting from the USA They were due to return on the 30th..but may be forced to stay on .My ED seems strangely pleased about the idea

Sunseeker1st

I have had this link bookmarked for several days and it is very good. However, Geni, it says Portugal has 112 cases, where do you see 154 as I see no one with that number?

wellinever

yes i dont see that figure here either
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_c...ic_in_Portugal

regular update....oddly its stopped showing where the cases are or what contact they had, which it did at the beginning (note Italy contact early on)
suggests to me the EU was very slow to act in a coordinated way

toots sweet

That long border to the east (and north) is a concern.............

Yes it is.... our winter stay is due to end. Our ferry booking is in a few weeks and the prospect of a drive through Spain isn't too appealing. It is a big dilemma.Do we go or stay(will we be allowed to go,will Spain close its borders ?).If we stay we will be overstaying our welcome.(What will that mean for us)If we go we have to spend 24 hours on a ship .What will we return to?Are we better here or there? We are in the most vulnerable age range.We are running out of medication.....questions ,questions.

wellinever

exactly my problem as well. have already not shown on 2 flights earlier this month, I had booked and have another booked for return to Portugal on the 1st April.
I was more concerned with meeting passengers from Italy in arrivals hall at UK airport. Now that has been stopped (at least for a few weeks)
So I agree its a dilema. But not convinced that UK is or has done the right thing. May be OK for younger fit people but not so for older more vulnerable.
I think its likely that Portugal is 2/3 weeks behind UK, so there is a chance if people take notice, and do the right things now, that they can be ahead of the curve, and slow it all down.
Which would be good as Portugal does not have the int beds to cope.

Fredbargate

I was thinking of driving over for a few days hoilday but have yet to see any decrease in hotel prices

liveaboard

All deadlines for official things has been extended; no one said so, but I assume that includes visa and stay limits.
No one has been too concerned about that for EU people before [and UK is still functionally in the EU, even though legally not].

So while there is plenty to worry about, I wouldn't worry about your overstay.

wellinever

I agree I am already well over........so what they gonna do.
my biggest concern is that my UK EHIC card ran out at end of March !!!!!
Should be one back in Uk as I requested one in February when I realised it was about to expire.
Gona get some one to copy it and email me it here, just in case.

macliam

If possible, stay there. I am in the UK and away from my wife and dogs, but I'm staying put until things are clearer. The last thing needed is to crowd together in an airport and on a plane and become an unconscious vector for transmission to Portugal.

If there is any truth in the suggestion that the virus will not survive heat, you are more likely to see it there than in the UK!

chislenko

I am due to go back to UK on March 30th but who knows by then will there be any flights. If as suggested Portugal "closes it's borders" there will be no incoming flights so one would imagine no outgoing flights as the planes won't be here. Obviously it is not as much of a headache for people with a base here but must be concerning for people who have rented for holidays, in hotels etc.

Obviously, around the world a lot of businesses are going to suffer, some beyond the point of coming back I would imagine. Is there any precedent for governments to claim money back from the country that started the problem, (appreciate proving that may be difficult)

macliam

Ooooh - does that mean I can claim back from the USA all the money I paid out to the bankers?

liveaboard

I have a couple of friends in Bombay; one of their friends have it.
So if I have say, 100 friends of friends in India, and india's population is 1,000,000,000, and the claim that there is just a dozen cases there is true, then what are the odds of that?

Pretty small.
I have no doubt there are 1,000 times more cases than reported.

The rumor about heat being a barrier to transmission is likely to cause further death.

macliam

What's happening on the Spanish border?
Many Spaniards were crossing into Portugal in order to fly and avoid the tax in Spain - this will escalate now if Spain is "closed" to air travel.
The infection rate around Madrid is really worrying - and Portugal doesn't need any "help" to fill its IC beds!