Skift Take
It’s every location’s problem, coming so close to summertime. But there’s no room for complacency and tourism chiefs will be viewing the sub-variant’s spread carefully.
Matthew Parsons
An Omicron sub-variant has actually fuelled a surge in Covid-19 cases in Portugal that now has the world’s second-highest infection rate, possibly threatening the tourism sector’s healing.
Portugal registered approximately 2,447 brand-new cases per million people over the last seven days. That compares to neighbouring Spain’s 449 and Britain’s 70, according to tracker Our World In Data.
The rolling average has subsided somewhat in the past couple of days and is simply over a third of the Jan. 31 Omicron peak.
Portugal has the world’s fifth-highest death rate from Covid-19 and hospitalisations are on the increase, but both are still far below previous peaks.
A number of tourist businesses contacted by Reuters have expressed worries about the rise, however stated they had had no cancellations up until now. The number of foreign travelers in April was close to levels seen prior to the pandemic.
More than 90 percent of Portugal’s population is totally immunized.
Public health institute Ricardo Jorge said in a report on Tuesday the Omicron sub-variant BA.5 represented almost 90 percent of brand-new Covid-19 infections. The BA.4 sub-variant has actually likewise been spotted in Portugal.
Both drove South Africa’s fifth Covid wave last month, with researchers stating they were able to evade antibodies from earlier infection.
“Portugal is most likely the European country with the highest occurrence of this sub-lineage and this partly discusses the high number (of cases) we are seeing,” Health Minister Marta Temido told RTP broadcaster.
The federal government lifted most Covid-19 restrictions, including the compulsory use of masks in the majority of indoor public areas, in April and has said there are no plans to reintroduce steps.
Temido said the use of masks was still recommended and authorities would continue to roll out booster vaccine doses to the most vulnerable.
(Reporting by Catarina Demony; Modifying by Andrei Khalip and Nick Macfie)
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