In a note published on its official page, the municipality said that the first screening programme for homes and residential units in the city, which tested more than 5,000 people, had an incidence of covid-19 “below 2% among users and employees of homes in the city ”.

The report of the screening programme, presented by the mayor of Porto, Rui Moreira, in the period before the agenda of the executive meeting, indicates that, in April, 5,174 people were screened, of which 2,064 were elderly and 572 citizens with disabilities, homeless people, institutionalized youth and institutional staff.

In the 78 nursing homes screened, 1.7% of people tested positive for covid-19 and in residential units 0.5%.

“But, if only the results are considered among users, the numbers are still lower and only 1.4% of the elderly were infected”, reads the note, adding that the “number of infected people found in the residential units in Porto was around 1% of the total population ”.

According to the municipality, the report also indicates that, within the scope of the programme, “a small illegal and totally unstructured home was closed, where the population of users and workers was highly infected”.

This screening, which started to be carried out on April 28, in addition to testing the population of homes and residential units, predicted that whenever infected users were found “the positive and negative population should be separated”.

This action, according to the municipality, forced the relocation of 28 people, with a negative test, to the Pousada da Juventude, where "they are now in the charge of the Chamber".

The publication also adds that the Porto City Council is now preparing the “second phase of the elderly protection program”, just waiting for the rules that the Directorate-General for Health will determine to proceed with “a vast program of visits” to these spaces, where the provision of personal protective equipment to family members and the elderly is foreseen.

The Campaign Hospital, set up at Pavilhão Rosa Mota, was also “fundamental to allow the separation of positives and negatives that may have prevented a catastrophe”, he adds.

Also on its website, the Porto City Council today publishes a note stating that the first patient to enter the Hospital de Campanha Porto left on Sunday, cured, after 25 days in hospital, but in total, since opening on April 14, it has already received 27 patients, nine of whom have already been discharged.

The municipality clarifies that the first patient who entered Rosa Mota for treatment was "an Iranian refugee, resident in Porto, who had recently become a mother and was infected".

According to information from the municipality, patients aged between 36 and 92 years, of both sexes, have passed through the field hospital, with an average of 68 years.

"Most of the patients who were discharged went home and one went to the Pousada da Juventude", where Câmara do Porto set up "a reception centre for those who have a negative test, but have no place to go, because their home has been hit by the disease ".

He also states that "the average hospital stay is 14 days, but the patients who spent the most time in the field hospital were there for 25 days, both being discharged yesterday [Sunday]".

Since it started operating, "5,000 meals and 22,000 bottles of water have already been consumed. 1,050 waste containers have been treated, eight tonnes of general waste and 2.4 tonnes of hospital waste sent for treatment".

According to the information provided by the municipality, almost four thousand uniforms and more than 3.8 tons of hospital clothes were sent for washing.