Communiqué from the Regional Health Authority - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Saúde e Desporto

Eight new cases of covid-19 were diagnosed in the Azores in the last 24 hours, all on the island of São Miguel, with five in context of community transmission and three related to travellers, non-residents, who tested positive on the 6th day, before beginning inter-island travel.  The diagnosis of these eight new cases follows 2,052 tests carried out in the laboratories of reference in the Region.   

The municipality of Vila Franca do Campo registers one case in the parish of São Pedro.  In turn, seven new cases were reported in the municipality of Ponta Delgada (five in São Pedro, one in Relva and one in Fajã de Baixo). 

In the last 24 hours six recoveries were registered on the island of São Miguel, all in the municipality of Ponta Delgada (two in Ajuda da Bretanha, one in São José and three in São Pedro).  

A total of 10 patients remain hospitalised, all at the Divino Espírito Santo Hospital, in Ponta Delgada, with four in intensive care.   In the last few hours, a patient was transferred from intensive care unit of the Divino Espírito Santo Hospital to Santa Maria Hospital in Lisbon to receive ECMO therapy (extra corporeal membrane oxygenation).  

As of today, the Region registers 131 active positive cases: 130 on the island of São Miguel (105 in the municipality of Ponta Delgada, eight in the municipality of Ribeira Grande, seven in the municipality of Lagoa, four in the municipality of Nordeste, four in the municipality of Vila Franca do Campo and two in the municipality of Povoação) and one on the island of Terceira in the parish of Feteira, municipality of Angra do Heroísmo.  There are 897 active surveillance cases.  

On the island of São Miguel, the municipalities of Lagoa, Nordeste and Povoação are at Very Low Risk; the municipalities of Ribeira Grande and Vila Franca do Campo are at Low Risk, and the municipality of Ponta Delgada is at Medium-High Risk.

All municipalities of the remaining islands of the archipelago are at Very Low Risk, so the measures established for this level of risk are maintained.   More information on the measures in force can be found online at: https://covid19.azores.gov.pt/ and on the Facebook page of the Regional Directorate for Health: https://www.facebook.com/DirecaoSaudeAcores.        

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 4,179 positive cases of covid-19 have been diagnosed in the Azores, with 3,910 people recovering from the disease. There were 30 deaths, 67 people who left the archipelago and 41 cases with a history of previous cure. A total of 199 local transmission chains have been extinguished. 

To date, 391,386 screening tests for covid-19 have been carried out in the Azores.  From last December 31 to March 30, 43,812 people aged 15 or over were vaccinated in the archipelago (28,376 received the first dose - 14.01% of the population and 15,436 the second dose - 7.62% of the population), as part of the first phase of the Regional Vaccination Plan. More information at: https://vacinacao-covid19.azores.gov.pt.