2021/02/23 00:44 LISBON, Portugal (AP) Portugal’s official daily number of new COVID-19 cases on Monday dropped below 1,000 for the first time since early October, amid a national lockdown and just weeks after it was the worst-hit country in the world by size of population. The lockdown that began Jan. 15 has brought “a very steep drop” in new cases, André Peralta Santos of the General Health Directorate told a televised meeting of health experts and political leaders. The 14-day incidence rate of new cases per 100,000 people has fallen to 322. At the end of January, it was 1,628. The country’s so-called “R” number, showing how many people each person with COVID-19 infects, is around 0.67 the lowest in Portugal since the pandemic began and currently the lowest in Europe, according to Baltazar Nunes of state laboratory INSA.
Portugal rolls back virus surge that made it world s worst
mynorthwest.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mynorthwest.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Portugal rolls back virus surge that made it world s worst
go.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from go.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
UK variant represents 48% of cases in Portugal
The variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus detected in the United Kingdom has been found to be responsible for almost half of the cases of covid-19 in Portugal, when in early January it represented just 8% of infections, according to the Ricardo Jorge National Health Institute (INSA). As of February 16 [Tuesday], we estimate that this variant represents around 48% of all covid-19 cases in Portugal, João Paulo Gomes, INSA researcher and coordinator of the study on diversity, told Lusa genetics of the new coronavirus in Portugal.
According to INSA data, the incidence in the country of this variant of the virus that causes covid-19, considered more contagious, has been growing since the beginning of the year, registering a constant increase over several weeks, in the period in which the highest number of infections was registered in Portugal.