The Presidency of the Republic detected a “moderate risk” case of Legionella in the bathroom of the official residence of the Head of State, in a building adjacent to the Belém Palace, and measures were immediately taken to correct the situation.
This information was given today in response to the Lusa agency, which asked the President of the Republic about this issue after the newspaper Tal & Qual reported that the outbreak of “legionella” “threatens to infect the Belém Palace”.
The Presidency of the Republic responded that “it carries out regular laboratory analyses as part of a programme of monitoring and preventive or corrective water treatment in the various buildings in which it operates” and that “these analyses have never resulted in values exceeding the reference values for significant risk”.
“However, lower levels of moderate risk were detected in the hot water of the bathroom of the official residence of the President of the Republic, in the building adjacent to the Belém Palace, and all measures were immediately taken to correct the situation. Measures depending on the level of risk established. Despite the moderate risk, this bathroom was immediately isolated as a precautionary measure,” the President of the Republic added.
Legionella is the bacterium responsible for Legionnaires’ disease, a form of severe pneumonia that is transmitted through the respiratory tract by inhaling droplets of contaminated water.
The Lusa Agency asked the President of the Republic whether the presence of this bacterium was detected in the Belém Palace, when, in which part of the palace and how the problem was or was being solved.
Without specifying when the legionella was detected, the President of the Republic said that “this limited incident did not affect the Belém Palace” and “did not affect the normal activities” of the head of state, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, “which took place within the framework of the previously established normality and agenda.”
“This leads to the stay of the President of the Republic in the Residence and, for example, to the holding at the end of today of the biennial review meeting of the President of the Republic with the Civil and Military Chambers, as well as tomorrow. [quinta-feira] “lunch with the board of the Assembly of the Republic at the end of the Legislative Session,” reads the response sent to Lusa.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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