After reaching a peak by the end of January, the overall trend in new cases notified in Portugal has shown a very significant decrease since the beginning of February. The effective reproduction number (Rt) stands below 1, confirming the decreasing trend of infections. The number of deaths and hospitalizations has also been slowing down.

On the 10th February, Portugal registered 4.387 new cases – less than a third of the new cases registered only two weeks ago (15.073 on the 26th January). The number of deaths reached 161, which is still a high number, though significantly below the 303 deaths registered on the 27th and the 30th January. Hospitalizations decreased by 241 in the last 24 hours, standing currently at 5.829, of which 853 in ICUs. There are 123.312 active cases. On the 9th February, the 14-day case notification rate per 100.000 population was of 1.030, with the majority of new cases concentrated in the region of Lisbon/Tagus Valley – it was of 1.668 on the 29th January.

The positive trends demonstrate the effectiveness of the stricter measures put in place by the Government since mid-January, which amount to a “general lockdown” in the country.

Portugal has been closely following the ongoing international research and data on the three SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern, first detected by the UK, South Africa and Brazil/Japan. According to WHO latest data, the reported geographical extent of VOC detections has continued to increase around the globe as local and national surveillance activities are adapted and strengthened to include strategic sequencing to detect cases with variants.

However, there is still no verified evidence of relevant presence and communitarian transmission of the South Africa and Brazil/Japan variants in Portugal. Only the UK variant shows to have a significant prevalence in Portugal, accounting for an estimated 42,6% proportion of cases between the 31th January and the 6th February.

In order to contain the spread of these variants, on the 27th January Portugal has suspended flights from/to Brazil and the United Kingdom, adding to the general restrictions on non-essential travel from/to countries outside the EU which were already in place.

ENDS