North overtakes Lisbon region in daily new coronavirus cases

Portugal’s northern region has for the first time in several weeks overtaken Lisbon and the Tagus Valley in terms of daily new coronavirus cases, but remains far behind in cumulative terms following a series of outbreaks over the last three months in the region surrounding the capital.

According to Sunday’s daily epidemiological bulletin from the Directorate General of Health, there were 121 new confirmed cases as compared to Saturday, of which 54 were in the North and 43 in the Lisbon region.

Since the beginning of the pandemic there have been 54,102 cases of infection nationally and 1,778 deaths.

Of the total cases so far, the North has had 19,473 while Lisbon and the Tagus Valley has had 27,931.

In the North, the worst-affected municipalities are Vila Nova de Gaia with 1,839 cases so far, Matosinhos with 1,332, Porto with 1,492 and Braga with 1,280.

In the Lisbon region, the capital itself has had 4,691 cases since the beginning of the pandemic, while there have been 3,906 in Sintra, 2,299 in Amadora and 1,613 in Odivelas.

Of the three deaths recorded in the 24 hours to midnight on Saturday, two were in the Lisbon region and one in the North.

Portugal has now had 39,697 cases of patients recovering from Covid-19, 112 more than on Saturday.

The number of patients in intensive care rose to 39 from 37 on Saturday and the total number of patients in hospital also rose, to 325 from 320.

The health authorities on Sunday had 35,742 people under surveillance while 1,226 were awaiting laboratory results – 37 fewer than the previous day.

Worldwide, the Covid-19 pandemic has so far claimed more than 766,000 lives and infected more than 21.5 million people in 196 countries and territories.