Communiqué from the Regional Health Authority - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Saúde e Desporto

60 new positive cases of covid-19 were diagnosed in the Azores in the last 24 hours, with 37 on the island of São Miguel, 10 on the island  of Terceira, five on the island of Santa Maria, four on the island of São Jorge, two on the island of Pico, one on the island of Flores and one on the island of Faial, following 2,119 tests carried out in the reference laboratories of the Region and five in private non-contracted laboratories.

On the island of São Miguel, one of the new cases concerns one traveller with a positive result prior to boarding to another island. 10 of the cases correspond to travellers — seven non-residents, three residing in the municipality of Ponta Delgada, who tested positive upon arrival, one on the 6^th day and one who carrying out a pre-boarding test for travel outside the region. Two are in the municipality of Ribeira Grande, who tested positive on the 6^th day and two in the municipality of Nordeste, also who tested positive on the 6^th day. The remaining 26 are related to community transmission. In terms of municipalities, in Lagoa, there are nine new cases in the municipality of Ponta Delgada, 15 new cases were registered in the municipality of Ribeira Grande and there are two new cases in the municipality of Nordeste.

On the island of Terceira, three of the new cases diagnosed in the municipality of Angra do Heroísmo refer to non-residents, two of whom tested positive upon arrival and one on the 6^th day. All other cases concern community transmission. Thus, 10 new cases were registered in the municipality of Angra do Heroísmo.

On the island of Santa Maria, the five new cases now diagnosed in Vila do Porto correspond to non-resident travellers, who tested positive on the 6^th day.

On the island of São Jorge, the four new cases are related to the primary local transmission chain identified yesterday in Velas.

On the island of Flores, one new case with history of travel from outside the Region originated a new primary local transmission chain in the municipality of Lajes.

On the island of Pico, one new case, related to the active transmission chain on that island, in the municipality of Lajes, was diagnosed and another new case, with history of travel from outside the Region originated a new primary local transmission chain, also in the municipality of Lajes.

On the island of Faial, one non-resident traveller tested positive on the 6^th day in the municipality of Horta (For detailed information on all positive cases in the archipelago please check the table Annex 1 at the end).

Also in the last 24 hours, 47 recoveries were registered (For detailed information on all recoveries in the archipelago please check the table Annex 2 at the end).

Today, 18 patients are hospitalised, with 10 at the Divino Espírito Santo Hospital in Ponta Delgada (with two in intensive care unit), seven at the Santo Espírito Hospital in Angra do Heroísmo (with one in intensive care unit) and one in Horta Hospital.

False Positive: A positive case identified in the parish and municipality of Santa Cruz da Graciosa, after due verification, proved to be false positive and therefore is no longer considered an active case.

Reallocation: In the course of the epidemiological investigation, four other positive cases were reallocated : One case identified in the parish of Calhetas, municipality of Ribeira Grande, is residing in the parish of Cabouco, municipality of Lagoa; One case identified in the parish of Nossa Senhora do Rosário, municipality of Lagoa, is residing in the parish of Ginetes, municipality of Ponta Delgada; One case in the parish of Ribeirinha, municipality of Ribeira Grande, is residing in the parish of Fenais da Luz in the municipality of Ponta Delgada and one case identified in the parish and municipality of Santa Cruz das Flores is residing in the parish of Lomba, municipality of Lajes das Flores.  

The archipelago currently has 535 active positive cases: 331 on the island of São Miguel, 164 on the island of Terceira, 13 on the island of Pico, 10 on the island of São Jorge, seven on the island of Santa Maria, four on the island of Flores, four on the island of Faial and two on the island of Graciosa.

With the emergence of two new primary local transmission chains in the last 24 hours, seven chains are now active in the archipelago, three on the island of Pico, one on the island of Faial, one between the islands of Pico and Flores, one on the island of Flores and one on the island of São Jorge. To date, 218 have been extinguished on all islands. There are 1,419 people under active surveillance today.   

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 7,479 positive cases of covid-19 have been diagnosed in the Azores and 6,759 people have recovered from the disease. There were 37 deaths, 85 people who left the archipelago and 63 cases with history of previous cure. To date, 633,469 tests have been carried out for SARS-CoV-2, which causes covid-19 disease.

From last 31 December 2020 until July 8, 250,705 doses of covid-19 vaccines have been administered in the Azores, with 129.190 people who received the first dose (53.21 % of the population) and 121.515 people with complete vaccination (50.05 %), under the Regional Vaccination Plan.

Annex 1

TOTAL POSITIVE

Annex 2

RECOVERIES