The Algarve and the municipality of Almodôvar, in Baixo Alentejo, are the places that will be most affected by the flu outbreak, which is spreading throughout the country this first week of the year, more precisely between the 1st and 8th.

The Center for Health Studies and Evaluation (CEFAR), of the National Pharmacy Association, predicts that the outbreak will reach grade 4 (high) in the Algarve region and in Almodôvar, so ‘greater turnout is expected’ at health services’.

“In the remaining continental territory and the Azores, the outbreak will reach grade 3 (moderate) in the first week of the year, but still with a tendency to increase new cases”, according to the National Association of Pharmacies.

These forecasts are based on the ‘Pharmacy Alarm Clock’, ‘barometer that anticipates flu activity from drug dispensing data’.

The “Pharmacy Alarm Clock” predicts flu activity, county by county, based on daily dispensing numbers for medicines and health products. The network of pharmacies serves, on average, 520 thousand people per day. This mass contact with the population makes it possible to anticipate the evolution of the epidemic by two weeks.