Speaking at the Paz Flor vaccination center in Luanda, which began administering part of the 50,000 doses brought by the Portuguese presidential delegation on Thursday, Sílvia Lutucuta thanked this "important donation", with "the promise that more doses will come".
On Saturday, after the Conference of Heads of State and Government of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), held in Luanda, the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, announced that Portugal would triple the vaccines offered to African countries Portuguese Official Language (PALOP) and Timor-Leste, from one million to three million doses, most of them Astrazeneca, whose distribution in Europe is restricted.
"The relationship with Portugal has been good, we have to thank once again," said the minister, who also highlighted Lisbon's support in other areas of the fight against the pandemic. "We are very pleased with this cooperation," she said.
In the third wave of the pandemic in Portugal, "we had doctors and nurses exchanging experiences, with internships in Portugal in several reference units", an "important added value" with "competencies that were gained in this journey", explained the Silvia Lutucuta.
In Angola, half of the daily cases of covid-19 are of the English variant, there are also cases of the "South African variant, with community circulation here in Luanda", explained the minister, noting that, in the case of the Delta variant, only "seven cases were registered, promptly isolated", two of which originated in Portugal.
The minister was at the vaccination center accompanied by Portuguese ambassador Pedro Pessoa e Costa, who praised the Angolan process.
"Portugal is always attentive to Angola's needs" and it is "in this solidary balance that we will continue to work", said the diplomat.
For Pessoa e Costa, "Angola has been an example in the way they started to deal with the issue of covid from the outset", in an "increasingly necessary balance between the economy and the risk situation", for which the "economy has been opening with caution, with respect for the virus."
The country has adopted very restrictive measures for internal circulation, with institutional and mandatory quarantines, requirements for regular PCR tests and a encirclement of the capital.
The minister justifies this more muscular action: "Angola is an example of balance between the economy and the health issue. Therefore, we have to open up according to the health situation so that we don't lose everything."
As for the future group immunity in the country, Sílvia Lutucuta does not want to give a goal, because everything depends on the "availability of the vaccine production industry".
