Portugal coronavirus contagions climb nearly 11 per cent in one day

PORTUGAL has registered a nearly 11 per cent increase in the number of coronavirus contagions over the last 24 hours, pushing the total up to well over 15,000.

This compares with a 10.9 per cent rise yesterday and increases of less than 6 per cent earlier in the week.

The country’s total Covid-19 case figure now adds up to 15,472, the Portuguese DGS Health Directorate General reported on Friday.

There have also been another 26 coronavirus-related deaths, putting the fatality tally at 435.

The DGS repeated calls for the population to stay at home over Easter and respect the tightened restrictions on movement over the holiday period.

“There is one thing that we all know: there is light at the end of the tunnel and we have to go along this tunnel,” Portugal’s Prime Minister Antonio Costa commented in a television interview today.

“The more disciplined we are, the more quickly we will reach the end,” he added.

“But being realistic I believe it is still not possible to see the light at the end of the tunnel.”

Costa admitted to feeling “a little more pessimistic” about the evolution of the Covid-19 situation in Portugal.

The Prime Minister expressed the view that until there is a vaccine or medication to treat coronavirus, every time a measure designed to contain the spread is lifted the risk of contagion would rise again.