“The Portuguese have to understand that we are not finishing anything, we are just beginning a journey, it is up to us to counteract the activity of a virus that is extremely intelligent, extremely aggressive, both in the way it is transmitted and in the way it can lead to serious disease. We cannot demobilise, said Graça Freitas, at a press conference that followed the release of the figures on the covid-19 disease in Portugal.
According to the Director-General of Health, it is necessary to “acknowledge that this is not a matter of a fortnight, two or three months, until there is a vaccine then this situation will last for months”.
The Minister of Health, Marta Temido, added that to face this phenomenon it will be necessary “for great discipline and capacity of resistance”, and that citizens must continue to maintain social distance to try to minimise the consequences of the disease.
“We cannot rely on luck. We need everyone’s actions to help to reduce the number of infected with the virus and the number of victims,” she said.
The official recalled the cases of miners confined to a mine in Chile (in 2010) or the children who were trapped in a cave in Thailand (2018) to state that what is being done “is difficult, puts everyone to the test, but it is necessary” .
“We must keep working activities as far as possible, because we need to keep society functioning for everyone, but we must avoid gestures, superfluous acts, even with people who know us well.
“In order to be able to embrace again, we need to first move ourselves far from each other “, she said.
Meanwhile, people infected with the new coronavirus, can take up to almost a month to fully recover, said Deputy Director-General for Health, Diogo Cruz.
Asked by Lusa about the evolution of the number of patients recovered in Portugal (43), Diogo Cruz explained that the virus can persist in the oropharynx of infected people beyond the average period of 14 days, and can be detectable for up to 21 or 28 days, even if patients no longer show symptoms.
According to the Deputy Director-General for Health, the evolution of recovered cases is expected to be slower, because the period during which the virus remains positive is variable and, in some cases, prolonged, even if the symptomatic recovery is rapid.
Diogo Cruz added that the number presented in the DGS epidemiological bulletins does not reflect the number of asymptomatic patients, and only those who have two negative tests within an interval of at least 24 hours are considered to have recovered.
“We are experiencing an exceptional situation in relation to what is usual. A patient with pneumonia who is discharged from the clinical point of view is considered treated, which is not what we are experiencing today, because we know that this virus remains in the oropharynx of patients for a long time, even after they are completely asymptomatic,” he explained.
Diogo Cruz also said that inpatients who are discharged from hospital continue to be followed at home, using the Trace COVID-19 platform, and are also tested in order to assess their recovery.
When asked about irregularities regarding the reporting of official cases, Diogo Cruz admitted that the epidemiological bulletin released on 30 March over Covid-19 included incorrect data, due to double counting of confirmed cases of the new coronavirus.
“There was a confluence between the data reported in the region and the data reported via Sinave (National Epidemiological Surveillance System) and there was a doubling of numbers,” said Diogo Cruz at the daily press conference.
The epidemiological bulletin since released by the Directorate-General for Health has already corrected the numbers and, according to the Deputy Director-General, includes only the data reported through Sinave, and the cases reported by the municipalities will no longer be accounted for, to eliminate the possibility of new duplication situations.
However, this option may mean that only about 70% of infected patients in Portugal are reported, warns Diogo Cruz.