Portugal has surpassed the barrier of 300,000 tests carried out on the covid-19 disease, the Secretary of State for Health revealed today, stating that this number is higher than countries like Norway, Switzerland, Italy and Germany.

“Portugal has surpassed the barrier of 300 thousand tests carried out. Since March 1, about 302 thousand covid-19 diagnostic tests have been carried out in our country. We are talking about testing 27,925 people per million inhabitants, which to date today is superior to countries like Norway, Switzerland, Italy and Germany “, said António Lacerda Sales.

The official, who said he was speaking at the daily press conference to take stock of the covid-19 pandemic in the country, added that about 49% of the tests were carried out in public laboratories, 45% in private laboratories and 5% in other institutions, namely academic and military.

“There are also more and more users inserted in the Trace Covid platform. At the moment there are already more than 135 thousand in this tool that allows the follow-up through primary health care of patients or suspicious people”, said António Lacerda Sales.

According to the Secretary of State for Health, of this number related to Trace Covid, “more than 30 thousand are under clinical surveillance”.

“I would like to leave a word of acknowledgment to all the people who are sick, convalescing in their homes, respecting the compulsory isolation and thus guaranteeing, not only their individual recovery, but protecting our collective health”, said the Governor.

António Lacerda Sales also stated that “since March 9, approximately 2,300 patients have been transferred from hospitals in the National Health Service (SNS) to units in the national integrated continuous care network”.

And that, in the same period, 230 social responses were found, which allowed “to free crucial hospital beds at this time of greatest pressure from the system”.

“We remain committed to ensuring that the NHS continues to respond positively to the different phases of the epidemic and that everyone’s efforts continue to be as decisive today as they were yesterday,” he concluded.

Portugal today registers 820 deaths associated with covid-19, 35 more than on Wednesday, and 22,353 infected (more 371), indicates the epidemiological bulletin released today by the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).

Comparing with Wednesday’s data, which recorded 785 deaths, today there was a percentage increase of 4.5%.

Regarding the number of confirmed cases of infection with the new coronavirus, DGS data show that there are 371 more cases than on Tuesday, representing an increase of 1.7%.

The North region has the highest number of deaths (475), followed by the Central region (179), Lisbon and the Tagus Valley (146), the Algarve (11), the Azores (8) and the Alentejo, which registers one dead person, the epidemiological situation report says, with data updated until midnight on Wednesday.