Illegal party in Lagos escalates Algarve COVID-19 infections with 16 new cases

In just a few hours, the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 related to an illegal party that took place at Odiáxere Sports Club, in Lagos, rose from 9 to 16. The regional health delegate of the Algarve, Ana Cristina Guerreiro, revealed the numbers this afternoon, in a press conference.

The figure is likely to increase as well, since another ten people are currently awaiting results, and ten are still waiting to be tested. Two people who attended the party have been hospitalized, one aged 27 and the other aged 39. Among those infected there are two children, 7 and 11 years old.

The first case was registered on June 10 (the party took place the previous weekend). The event, held in a rented space in a village in the municipality, the Sunday before last, allegedly brought together “a few dozen people”, some of them from locations outside the Algarve region, possibly from “Lisbon and Coimbra”, mayor Hugo Pereira revealed to press.

The “focal point of active contagion” due to the “organizing an illegal festive event” lead to Lagos City Council expressing their worries in a statement issued this Monday. According to the statement, “although they are not yet included in the daily report of the Directorate-General for Health, there are already some other confirmed positive cases” in the municipality. The “competent entities” are “carrying out tests, determining isolation measures and identifying possible chains of contagion”, so that the focus “remains as circumscribed as possible”.

Among the confirmed cases are people “of different nationalities” and residents “from several municipalities of the region, mostly Lagos and Portimão and also some visitors” from elsewhere in the country. The confirmed cases are of people who participated in the party, which according to a source gathered about 100 people, and of family members who also ended up being contaminated by those who participated. 5 of the 16 cases were confirmed today, 16 June. As for the first case, it dates back to 10 June.

According to the regional health delegate, the hospitalised patients “are not ventilated”. “When Covid patients are admitted, it is because their condition is worrying. Mild cases make their way in isolation at home,” she said.

In addition to these cases, “research continues into the workplaces of these people and our job is this: to identify and isolate to try to break the transmission chains” caused by the gathering. According to Paulo Morgado, president of the Regional Health Administration (ARS) of the Algarve, this was “supposedly a birthday party”. GNR was called to the location, ending the party, but not at its “maximum moment”. Ana Cristina Guerreiro expressed her desire to “be able to assign responsibility” to whoever organized this party, with all “its legal consequences”. “I would very much like this to have consequences.

Despite the participation of people from other parts of Portugal, this was “a local initiative and local responsibility. Some participants claim that the party was growing, without being aware of it”, said Guerreiro. Besides, according to the regional health delegate, in this case “it took us two, three days to arrive at the perception that it had been a larger event”. To the people who were at the party, and who have not yet been tested, Ana Cristina Guerreiro left a request: “we are perfectly within the time when people may not feel any symptoms, but the disease will appear later. It is an act of responsibility to go to a health service”.