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In Portugal, in the last 24 hours, 21 more people died from the covid-19 pandemic; since April 3 there have not been so many daily deaths. At that time, there were 37. Cases also rose again: 2,608 additional infections were confirmed. For three consecutive days, the country has broken daily records for cases.
According to the epidemiological bulletin of the General Directorate of Health (DGS) this Friday (October 16), in total, since the pandemic began, 95,902 people have been infected, 56,066 recovered (985 more) and 2,149 deaths in Portugal.
At this time, there are 37687 active Portuguese patients to be monitored by the health authorities, 1,602 more than yesterday.
Most of those infected in the last 24 hours are in the northern region (more than 1,350 – 51.8% of the total) and in Lisbon and the Tagus Valley (725 – 27.8%). They are followed by the center (plus 323), Alentejo (150), Algarve (44), Madeira (12) and the Azores (four).
Portugal crossed, for the first time, the barrier of two thousand daily cases of infection by the new coronavirus this Wednesday, when 2,072 infections were reported. This figure was exceeded on Thursday (2 101 cases).
Today’s DGS bulletin also indicates that health authorities are monitoring 51,784 contacts of infected people (183 more than yesterday).
Most deaths between the north and Greater Lisbon
The 21 deaths registered in the last 24 hours are distributed between those in the north (ten), Lisbon and Vale do Tejo (nine) and the center (two). Of these, 20 took place in a hospital environment and one in a home, reported the general director of Health, Graça Freitas, at a press conference.
The fatal victims are 15 men and six women. Among these, there were 13 people over 80, four between 70 and 79, three between 60 and 69, and one between 40 and 49.
The country’s overall death rate is now 2.24%, reaching 12.2% in the case of people over 70 years of age, the main fatalities.
Pressure on hospitals mounts, but we still haven’t reached April levels
The messages of appeasement from the Government and health authorities are repeated: there is hospital capacity and the National Health Service (SNS) works in a network. In other words, when a hospital no longer has hospital beds, the patient is transferred to another in the same area.
The statements made after the news about the lack of response capacity in some hospitals in the capital and the cancellation of scheduled surgeries in the north due to covid cases are in line with what the figures say. Covid hospitalizations have risen at a daily rate of about 30 more beds occupied, but the numbers remain lower than in April, at the peak of the pandemic.
On average, in the last week, 890 people in Portugal were hospitalized per day. In April, in the week from 15 to 21 (the worst since the start of the pandemic), the average was 1237 daily admissions. So far, the maximum number of people hospitalized for covid-19 was 1302, on April 16.
This Friday, 1015 patients are hospitalized, that is, 22 more than the previous day. There are now 144 people in intensive care, five more than the day before.
The pressure is fundamentally on the health services in the northern regions and in Lisbon and the Tagus Valley, where there are more cases of infection. Regarding the latter, this Thursday, the Regional Health Administration (ARS) indicated that Of the 517 hospital nursing beds dedicated to covid-19 patients, 420 were occupied. There were 64 patients in the Intensive Care Units, which corresponds to 66% of the total beds available (97).
In a statement sent to the newsrooms, the ARS of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo also said that the current contingency plan for the management of hospital beds “provides for three levels of response” and may “increase successively.” In recent days, a centralized management group has also been created that “will ensure proper articulation” of the management of the beds.
39.2 million cases worldwide
The new coronavirus has infected more than 39.2 million people worldwide as of this Friday and has caused 1,103,708 deaths, according to official data, updated at 9:32 a.m. Now there are 29.4 million recovered.
In total, the United States of America is the country with the highest concentration of cases (8,219,088) and deaths (222,754). Regarding the number of accumulated infected in the world, they are followed by India (7,372,394), Brazil (5,170,996) and Russia (1,369,313). Portugal appears in position 46 of this table.
In terms of deaths, after the United States, Brazil is the nation with the most declared deaths (152,513), followed by India (112,214) and Mexico (85,285).
