Communiqué from the Regional Health Authority - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Saúde e Desporto

41 new positive cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in the Azores in the last 24 hours, with 33 on the island of São Miguel, four on the island of Faial, two on the island of Terceira, one on the island of Graciosa and one on the island of São Jorge, following 1,358 analyses carried out in the reference laboratories of the Region and one in a private non-contracted laboratory.

On the island of São Miguel, all cases are related to community transmission. By municipalities, Ponta Delgada registered 17 new cases, Ribeira Grande, nine, Vila Franca do Campo, four, Povoação, two and Nordeste, one.

On the island of Terceira, two new cases were diagnosed in the context of community transmission, one in Santa Luzia and one in Ribeirinha, both parishes from the municipality of Angra do Heroísmo.

On the island of Faial, there are four new cases in the parish of Matriz, all of which have to be assessed, two of which correspond to non-resident travellers.

The case on the island of São Jorge, in the parish of Norte Pequeno, is related to the pre-existing primary local transmission chain.

The island of Graciosa registered a new case in Guadeloupe, linked to one of the pre-existing chains (See Annex 1 – table for positive cases in the whole archipelago).

Also in the last 24 hours, 38 recoveries were registered (See Annex 2 – table for recoveries in whole archipelago).

Two previously reported cases in the parishes of São José and Relva, both in the municipality of Ponta Delgada, provided documentation demonstrating a previous infection and its recovery, thus no longer count as active cases.

In the course of the epidemiological investigation, it was found that on the island of São Miguel, a positive case initially allocated to the parish of Capelas, municipality Ponta Delgada, is residing in the parish of Fajã de Cima,  in the same municipality.

As of today, 11 patients are hospitalised in the Azores, 10 of them at the Divino Espírito Santo Hospital in Ponta Delgada (with two in Intensive Care Unit) and one in Santo Espírito Hospital of Terceira Island.

The archipelago currently registers 457 active positive cases: 383 on the island of São Miguel, 29 on the island of Terceira, 18 on the island of São Jorge, 12 on the island of Faial, seven on the island of Santa Maria, seven on the island of Graciosa and one on the island of Pico.  

Seven primary local transmission chains are active in the archipelago: two on the island of Pico, one on the island of São Jorge, one on the island of Santa Maria, two on the island of Graciosa and one shared between the islands of Faial and São Jorge. To date, 225 have been extinguished on all islands. There are 1,441 people under active surveillance today.

Following an analysis of deaths in the Region, there were two errors, that led to a change in the number of deaths by sex and the distribution by age group. The numbers presented in today’s Bulletin are updated.     

Since the beginning of the pandemic, 8,431 positive cases of COVID-19 have been diagnosed in the Azores and 7.775 people recovered from the disease. There were 39 deaths, 89 people who left the archipelago and 71 cases with history of previous. To date, 667,555 tests have been carried out for SARS-CoV-2 virus which causes COVID-19 disease.  

From 31 December 2020 to 16 August, 167,580 people in the Azores have been vaccinated with the first dose (67,9 per cent) and 152,369 with complete vaccination (64,4 per cent), under the Regional Vaccination Plan.  

Annex 1

TOTAL POSITIVE

Annex 2

RECOVERIES