The final Covid bulletin of 2020 has made for grim reading. The number of active cases, which has been hovering in the last few weeks around the 70,000-mark (quite often dipping below) is suddenly back up again with avengeance.
There are currently 72,496 ‘active cases’.
In the last 24-hours, 7,627 more people were found to be infected with Covid-19, the majority in Lisbon/ Vale do Tejo and the north (+2,801 and +2,588 respectively). This is the highest daily total since the start of the pandemic, reports TVI24.
High numbers of new cases have also started being seen in the Alentejo and Algarve (+524 and +219 respectively).
Deaths – which health authorities have warned will remain high for some time – came in at 76 today, the vast majority (37) in the north.
For the full picture of the last 24-hour period (click here)
With the country facing a three-day New Year lockdown, the sudden surge in numbers could be down to two factors: the Christmas period – where every citizen, no matter how badly affected their home borough, was freed from restrictions for the best part of four days – and the possible circulation of the ‘much more infectious variant’ (click here).
President Marcelo is due to meet with political parties on Monday to discuss whether to renew the country’s State of Emergency.
Monday will also see Portugal’s vaccine roll-out begin in the country’s old people’s homes.
