“There is a lot of activity happening at the same time and human means, and professional means are not infinite either. Regional Director of Health Berto Cabral said, in statements to reporters, on the sidelines of a mass testing exercise at Escola Infante D. Henrique, in Angra do Heroísmo.
On Tuesday, the Terceira Island Health Unit (USIT) had already announced that it would reduce aid activity.
According to Berto Cabral, there will also be a decrease in non-urgent activities on the islands of São Miguel, Pico and Faial.
“This is because of the large number of cases and the maximum follow-up that we want to provide for all situations, not to stop testing, not to stop vaccination, because at this moment it is necessary to contain the number of cases as quickly as possible,” he stressed.
The regional director of health said some consultations will take place “by phone” and some family health centers in parishes will open “fewer days per week”.
“Users with illnesses that require greater care are not left without proper monitoring, pregnant women are not left without proper monitoring, and children are vaccinated. […]. There are a number of activities that have not been suspended and that remain normal. He explained that there is, of course, a decrease in the number of consultations.
However, Puerto Cabral did not adhere to the dates for the resumption of normal activity, and said that the management would be carried out by each health unit on the island, taking into account the epidemiological situation and the frequency of vaccination.
He noted, “We appreciate that this will only happen now in a relatively short period until some of these outbreaks are contained and our lives will be more normal.”
However, these restrictions should not affect hospitals in the region, where infected users are monitored in isolation, testing and immunization by health centres, the regional health director emphasized.
“Testing and booster doses and giving pediatric doses a big impact, because it’s the nursing professionals who ask for these jobs, not to mention the PCR tests,” he justified.
Doctors have to monitor infected patients, and they have to get them out of the hospital. For this reason, he added, it reduces its activity a little.
On Wednesday, the Azores had 2,801 active cases of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus that causes Covid-19 disease, with 1,857 in São Miguel, 499 in Terceira, 225 in Faial, 127 in Pico, 39 in Santa Maria, 24 in Flores, 21 in São Jorge, five in Corfu, and four in Graciosa.
The regional health authority’s daily bulletin was not released today, but according to Berto Cabral, more than 600 new cases of infection have been identified, a new daily record in the region.
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