Home » News » Lisbon and Tagus Valley without being out of control but having difficulty breaking transmission chains, admits Marta Temido – O Jornal Económico

Lisbon and Tagus Valley without being out of control but having difficulty breaking transmission chains, admits Marta Temido – O Jornal Económico

The Minister of Health, Marta Temido, admitted that there is no lack of control in the epidemiological situation of Lisbon and the Tagus Valley, despite the increase in cases of infection of the new coronavirus, which, in the opinion of the official, is due to difficulties in breaking the transmission chains. in the municipalities that remain on the alert, he revealed in an interview with RTP on the ‘Grande Interview’ program.

After the peak was reached at the end of March and the disease transmission curve started to decrease in the country, the region of Lisbon and the Tagus Valley continued to see an increase in cases, surpassing the North zone, with more than 19 thousand cases.

Asked about a possible lack of control of the situation of new infections, the Minister of Health admits that “one cannot speak of lack of control”, but “in a situation of difficulty in breaking transmission chains that has been persistently maintained”. “For us to say that we had a lack of control, we had to have exponential growth, and that is not what we are seeing”.

Marta Temido said that the first phase of the disease, between March and April, “caused an expectation that it would be a problem overcome more easily than it was in reality and that we could have the country homogeneously respond in the same way and that is not it what is happening, as it happens in other countries ”.

“In Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, the decrease was not as sharp as in other regions and has remained on a plateau”, said Marta Temido. “The situation requires consideration, reflection and the care that a pandemic requires, with a virus that is new, very unknown in its behavior and that has a great transmissibility and a very adverse effect” in citizens with previous diseases and with advanced ages.

Marta Temido assumed that the increase in hospital admissions and infection cases has affected the resumption of program assistance activity in the region of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, this being the biggest consequence that has been verified. Even so, the Minister of Health explains that the percentage of hospitalized patients has remained stable in the region, similar to Intensive Care. “It is, above all, a startling situation that does not let us be calm and that is the main concern”, he said.

In view of the most pressured hospitals, the minister assumes that in “Lisbon and Vale do Tejo there are two hospitals with greater pressure, which are Amadora-Sintra, due to the municipalities it serves, and Beatriz Ângelo, which works for Covid and not Covid ”. The region has 6,100 beds, and as of yesterday, July 1, 503 were occupied with infected patients, in addition to 271 beds in intensive care for adults, with 95 reserved for infected patients, all of whom are not occupied . Thus, the minister assumes that the capacity is far from the limit, although in some hospitals this happens.

In the municipalities that remained on alert due to the number of cases, the minister guarantees that there are indications “that in areas with more population and more contacts there is a greater risk of transmission that, consequently, generate transmission chains that are more difficult to break”. “The alert districts are densely populated areas, where people move around a lot and where it is difficult to intervene due to the multiplicity of contacts”, said the minister to the RTP program.

“When there are peaks of affluence, there is a diversion of patients to hospitals with more capacity”, said Marta Temido to the ‘Grande Interview’, affirming that the patients were moved to “Santarém and Médio Tejo to preserve the responsiveness of the Lisbon crown” and that the option of placing patients further away was due to safety.

In view of the outbreaks at the Lisbon IPO, at the Egas Moniz hospital and at the Torres Vedras hospital, Marta Temido maintained that this is a “very frequent phenomenon” and that the logic of testing health professionals is due to the fact that they can contaminate third parties more easily because they are at the forefront of fighting the virus.

Tests at these institutions also made it possible to identify asymptomatic cases and lock transmission chains as early as possible. “The early detection of these cases [assintomáticos] it allows to limit the number of transmission chains, because it is possible to identify the contacts and put people in isolation ”, defended the minister.

Leave a Comment

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.