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Portugal registered five more deaths and 488 new cases of contagion by the new coronavirus (which corresponds to an increase of 0.06%), according to the most recent data from the General Directorate of Health. This is the lowest 24-hour death toll since October 10, when five deaths were also recorded.
There are fewer 26 people admitted to Portuguese hospitals, with a total of 669 hospitalized patients with covid-19. On the other hand, there is another person with the disease in intensive care units (ICU), in a total of 155, reversing the downward trend of patients hospitalized in ICU that occurred 40 days ago.
Another 891 people recovered from the disease, with a total of 771,339 recovered. There are still 408 fewer active cases of infection to be registered, out of a total of 31,540.
Revealed in this Friday’s bulletin from the General Health Directorate, the data corresponds to the entirety of Thursday. In total, the country has 16,819 deaths from covid-19 and 819,698 confirmed cases since March.
The country remains in the green zone of the risk matrix. The squares of the matrix that we put at the beginning of this article dictate the advance (or retreat) of the different phases of deflation and combine the incidence of the virus (the number of cases per 100 thousand inhabitants) with the transmissibility index, Rt (the number of cases of infection that gives rise to a person with covid-19). If the indicators remain in the green area, deflation can continue to advance, but if the country reaches the yellow or red area, the reopening of society and the economy can stop or reverse.
The national transmissibility index (Rt) increased from 0.91 to 0.93, given the updated data in the bulletin published on Wednesday. The the incidence at 14 days per 100,000 inhabitants decreased from 77.6 to 75.7 new cases If the entire country is considered, the continent has a slightly lower figure: 66.8 new infections per 100,000 inhabitants.
According to the data collected in the bulletin, Lisbon and Vale do Tejo concentrate 43% of the new cases notified this Friday, with 210 more infected and two deaths. The northern region has more than 120 cases (25%) and there are no fatalities.
The five deaths identified in Friday’s data include a man and a woman between the ages of 70 and 79; and three women over 80, the age group most affected in terms of deaths.
The North accumulates a total of 330,043 confirmed cases since the beginning of the pandemic, being the area of the country with the highest number of infections. They are followed by Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, with 310,653 cases; the Center, with 116,926 cases (53 more than the previous day); the Alentejo, with 29,005 cases (plus 52) and the Algarve, with 20,580 infected (plus eight). The Azores archipelago has a total of 4014 cases of infection (plus 11) and Madeira has 8477 cases (plus 34).
Lisbon and Vale do Tejo register 7,113 deaths from covid-19 accumulated since March, the northern region 5,295, the Center has 2,997 deaths (two more) and the Alentejo has 968 (one more). The Algarve remains with 351 dead, with no fatalities being reported this Friday, as well as the archipelagos of the Azores and Madeira, which are left with a total of 28 and 67 deaths from covid-19, respectively.
The Government will only decide to advance the de-definition plan to the next stage, scheduled for April 5, on day 1 (Thursday), announced this Friday the Minister of State and Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, at a press conference after meeting of the Council of Ministers.
The minister pointed out that the Rt is “very significantly” close to 1 and that “caution is necessary in the deflation process.” However, he affirmed that no one will use the lines of the risk matrix to suspect “absolute brakes”, although he pointed out that exceeding the Rt of 1 can slow down the pace of the country’s reopening.
“At this time”, it does not “seem possible to go back” in the programmed unconfiguration, but there may be a pause, if the indicators recommend it. We must wait for the assessment that the Government will make on April 1, the minister concluded.
