Portugal is preparing for a record number of cases due to Omicron

Portugal’s health minister predicted on Wednesday that the Omicron variant would cause a record number of infections in the coming days, as authorities announced today almost 9,000 new cases, the highest number recorded since early February, while 5,754 cases were recorded yesterday. .

Although the country has one of the highest COVID-19 vaccination rates in the world, with around 87% of its 10 million people fully vaccinated, daily infections have returned to levels last seen when Portugal faced the worst wave of the disease in the first two months of the year.

“We will probably reach a record number (of all seasons) of cases in the coming days,” Health Minister Marta Temido said in an interview with TVI.

Portugal had announced a record 16,432 cases at the end of January, when the public health system was on the verge of collapse.

Deaths and hospitalizations are well below the levels then recorded. Hospitals treat 909 people with COVID-19 compared to 6,869 on February 1.

The incidence of 14 days has more than doubled in the last month and reached 579 cases per 100,000 people today, Wednesday, according to official data. About half of all new coronavirus cases in Portugal come from the Omicron variant.

To curb the festive season, the government announced new restrictions Tuesday, ordering nightclubs and bars to close and advising people to work from home for at least two weeks, starting on Christmas Day. .

Prime Minister Antonio Costa urged citizens to limit their contacts as much as possible.

Portugal has increased coronavirus tests to an average of 133,000 a day, but as the holidays approach and demand is rising, some supermarkets are short of test kits, and few pharmacies are available for testing. .

SOURCE: ΑΠΕ-ΜΠΕ