120 case threshold could be reached within two weeks By TPN/Lusa, in News, COVID-19 · 13-04-2021 16:10:00 · 0 Comments
The covid-19 pandemic has registered a “reversal of the downward trend” in Portugal, with a transmissibility index (R) of 1.05, as numbers show that the country may reach 120 cases per 100,000 inhabitants within “two weeks to a month”.
The information was provided by researcher Baltazar Nunes, from the National Health Institute Dr. Ricardo Jorge (INSA), who highlighted the current “growth phase” of the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the country and said that on April 8, the last time which there was data, the R has already reached 1.09, when in the previous Infarmed meeting (March 23) the value of this index was 0.89.
Portugal with lowest Rt rate in Europe
Portugal currently has the “lowest” transmissibility index (Rt) of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in Europe, with an estimated value for the last five days of 0.74 for the national territory.
According to investigator Baltazar Nunes: “We continue to present the lowest Rt in Europe and with an incidence already close to 120 [new cases] per 100,000 inhabitants”, said the epidemiologist who is part of the National Health Institute Dr. Ricardo Jorge (INSA).
However, the INSA researcher, who is part of the group of experts that supports the Government in decision-making in the context of the covid-19 pandemic, underlined that the “downward trend [of the incidence] has been decelerating” and warned that the transmissibility index is “below 1 across the continent, but above 1 in the autonomous regions” of Madeira and the Azores.