The experts, who gathered today at Infarmed, also suggest that the digital certificate, now mandatory for access to restaurants, tourist establishments, local accommodation and cultural shows, should be used only "in the context of occupational health" and recommend that, in outdoor locations, the use of the protective mask is limited to areas with high population density.

Testing

They also defend that there is no longer any recommendation for teleworking, with face-to-face work to be done without limitations, and as for testing, they recommend it in populations of greater vulnerability (admission to homes and before hospitalisation), preschool employees, in places of greater risk of transmission and when there are symptoms, in the context of diagnosis.

Considering that conditions are in place to reduce the measures, Raquel Duarte, from ARS Norte, Institute of Public Health of the University of Porto and Abel Salazar Institute of Biomedical Sciences, recalled, however, that “it is necessary to maintain vigilance” and that “there are threats that should not be forgotten”, such as the unequal access to vaccines worldwide, which can potentiate the emergence of new variants.

Least restrictive

They recalled that, in the European context, Portugal is one of the countries with the least restrictive measures and drew attention to the need to maintain surveillance of the most vulnerable, such as the elderly who live in institutions or are hospitalised and those who work in health services.

The specialists considered that this is “the ideal time” to move to so-called level 1 measures - with biweekly assessment - and said that the next steps require a focus on monitoring, vaccination, ventilation and mask use in risk environments (homes and health units).

In monitoring, they pointed out the surveillance system for respiratory infections, discussed at the meeting by Ana Paula Rodrigues, a specialist at the National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge, and in vaccination, they pointed out the need to "play with seasonality" and define which population is eligible for the vaccines.

Raquel Duarte also stressed the need for good ventilation of spaces and to prepare the population for a change in behaviour, using protective measures whenever symptoms are present.

“It is necessary to ritualize behaviours, it is not acceptable to neglect hand hygiene, or not to keep a social distance or not wear a mask if we have symptoms,” she said.

Raquel Duarte defended the need to prepare the population for behaviour change, improving literacy, changing behaviours in the face of symptoms and insisting on the "routine use of non-pharmacological measures in the face of risk of transmission" and the avoidance of the workplace/school if any disease symptoms.

Shift

"We are witnessing a paradigm shift, resulting from the high vaccination rate and the lower severity of clinical manifestations associated with the Omicron variant. It is time to alleviate measures, maintaining monitoring and alert", said the official, adding that "it is necessary to capitalise on what has been learned from Covid-19 and promote behaviour change associated with non-pharmacological measures".

She also recalled that "there will be new variants, new outbreaks" and that it is necessary to "keep vigilant" and "adjust the measures to the risk".