Speaking to RTP and TVI, at the entrance to Pedro Abrunhosa’s concert, in São Domingos de Benfica, Lisbon, António Costa commented on the data revealed today by the official bulletin of the Directorate-General for Health, which pointed to 10 more deaths and 904 new cases of Covid-19 in Portugal.
“We are having, as has been known since mid-August, a constant rise, in line with other European countries, of infections”, the Prime Minister began by saying, stressing that “fortunately, today they are having less severity than they had at the beginning of the crisis, but that do not allow anyone to relieve the care that we should all have ”.
Speaking of the need for “great discipline”, Costa recalled that “we cannot resort, as we did in March, to confinement and paralysis of the country again “because” the income of families, jobs and companies would not be able to bear it again “.
“Anow we are exclusively in our own hands and in the way we follow the basic rules. If we fulfill all of them, we will control the pandemic. If we do not comply, we have dramatic situations as some are living ”, he said.
Still, and despite mentioning that “evolution [da pandemia] it has been significant ”, the Prime Minister said that“ with regard to the pressure on the National Health Service, it has remained stable and the reinforcement has been made, which gives us comfort ”.
Later, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, at the end of a meeting on science, at the Old National Coach Museum, in Lisbon, was also asked to comment on the figures of the pandemic in Portugal.
“Two weeks ago, I had already had the opportunity to say that the possibility of reaching more than 1000 infected people a day was allowed with the opening of schools and the return to full social activities. We are close to that ”, started by saying the head of state, recalling that” what I said at the time applies now “.
“Some say it is the second wave, others that it is the third, but we are witnessing a phenomenon in many countries in Europe of an increase in infected people”, continued Marcelo, adding that this means “an acceleration of the pandemic that corresponds to the transaction autumn / winter, open social activity, opening schools ”.
The President of the Republic, however, also stressed that “at this moment, there is no stress on the National Health Service, in the sense that neither in hospital nor in intensive care are we reaching what is now called red lines and much less red lines in terms of deaths ”.
In addition, the “health authorities have already spoken of their preparation in the event that it is necessary to expand the internment capacity, asking other components of the NHS to assume non-covid pathologies or even other forms of internment, that this is thought and prepared ”, concluded Marcelo.
Portugal today surpassed the 2,000 deaths associated with covid-19 since the beginning of the pandemic, totaling 2,005 deaths, 10 more compared to Saturday, according to the epidemiological bulletin of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).
In the last 24 hours, Portugal recorded 904 more cases of infection with the new coronavirus SARS-Cov-2, totaling 79,151 cases, according to DGS data, according to which there are currently 26,939 active cases, 532 more than on Saturday.
The DGS indicates that of the 10 registered deaths, the majority (8) occurred in the region of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, where there is also the highest number of infections, and two in the North.
Regarding hospital admissions, the bulletin reveals that in the last 24 hours, there are 14 more hospitalized in wards and one less in intensive care compared to Saturday.
In total, there are 682 patients admitted to the infirmary and 105 to the Intensive Care Units, according to the report on the epidemiological situation of covid-19 in Portugal.
The bulletin also states that health authorities have 46,348 contacts under surveillance, another 120 in relation to Saturday, and that 362 patients have been reported as recovered.
Since the beginning of the pandemic in Portugal, in March, 50,207 people have recovered from the disease.
The largest number of deaths continues to be concentrated in people over 80 years of age.
The covid-19 pandemic has already claimed more than one million and thirty thousand deaths and more than 34.9 million cases of infection worldwide, according to a report made by the French agency AFP.
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