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Difficult times for Prime Minister Antonio Costa
WHAT / dpa
Portugal’s numbers are “particularly dramatic,” Costa had previously said. The country of about 10.3 million people reported a new 24-hour infection record with 14,647 new cases on Wednesday. On Thursday 13,544 new infections were reported in Portugal. Due to the dire situation, calls have recently been made for the postponement of the presidential elections scheduled for Sunday.
Costa said there will be no online learning for the next 15 days either. Failed face-to-face classes should be made up in the next vacation. However, some schools would remain open to care for the children of workers in essential sectors. At an extraordinary cabinet meeting, it was also decided to close all citizen counseling centers. Furthermore, court hearings should be limited to urgent cases.
Compared to other countries in Europe, Portugal overcame the pandemic relatively lightly for a long time. The situation has been getting worse since the fall. According to the latest figures from the EU agency ECDC, 1,215 people per 100,000 inhabitants were infected with the virus in 14 days. Only two of the 30 registered countries are worse off: Ireland with around 1,444 and the Czech Republic with 1,362. For Germany this value was just over 319.
According to the Lisbon health authorities, some 595,000 infections have been detected in the country since the start of the pandemic. 9,686 people died with Covid-19. The situation in hospitals is increasingly worrying. The number of Covid patients treated in intensive care units increased from 611 to 702 in just one week.
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