Returnees will be in isolation and without visits for 14 days

All the returnees who arrived in Lisbon this evening from Wuhan, China, were assessed at the airport and arrived at the hospital around midnight.

The Portuguese who arrived in Portugal on Sunday, repatriated from Wuhan, entered the Pulido Valente Hospital, in Lisbon, to carry out analyzes, after a first check carried out by a medical team, still at Figo Maduro airport, where they landed around the 21 hours.

They will stay in “prophylactic isolation” for 14 days in this hospital and others in Parque da Saúde, in the capital, without visits, announced the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, in a press conference, around 21.20 hours on Sunday.

In total, 20 people arrived on board the Air Force C-130, including a diplomatic official who accompanied the entire operation, from Beja to Wuhan and back, and two consular officers working in China, who returned to Portugal together with the citizens who asked to be repatriated.

Before reaching Figo Maduro, they passed through France, where they landed on board an Airbus A380, along with over 230 passengers, of 29 nationalities, including 20 that the French authorities say show suspected symptoms of contagion.

The Portuguese Government guaranteed, however, that the Portuguese had no contact with the group of passengers with suspicious symptoms. At the global level, the epidemic has already caused at least 362 deaths, according to the latest Chinese government report.

The Minister of Health said that the 20 people from China who arrived in Lisbon will be in isolation and carry out tests to detect the new coronavirus, the results of which will be presented “in the next few hours”.

Marta Temido stressed that, “at the outset, these people are not sick” with the new coronavirus, and that the group will spend 14 days in prophylactic isolation. During this period, they will not be able to receive visits, even if controlled.

The Directorate-General for Health will make a daily clinical bulletin of the group and the Ministry of Health will hold a daily press conference to report the evolution of the situation.

On the Portuguese Air Force’s C-130 transport plane, the people who decided to leave Wuhan, the epicenter of the coronavirus contagion, were accompanied by six crew members and eight health professionals, including an international health team.

Patrícia Gaspar, Secretary of State for Internal Administration, highlighted the “great national effort” that represented this repatriation, made under a European mechanism, with authorization from Brussels, after the initiative of France, which allowed the Portuguese to return home .

“This was one of the many operations that our military, under the public interest, carry out throughout the year,” said the Assistant Secretary of State and National Defense, Jorge Seguro Sanches.

It was an operation “which was prepared for several days” and which the minister classified as “complex and sensitive”, leaving a thank you to all the professionals involved, those who have already participated in this repatriation and those who will accompany the returnees in the coming years. days.

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