Portugal Sees New Coronavirus Cases Rising For Five Straight Days Due to Lisbon Area

PORTUGAL has reported five straight days of rises in new coronavirus cases.

A total of 304 confirmed cases were reported today (May 28) in what was the biggest single daily increase for 20 days.

The Health Ministry said that Portugal had 31,595 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 1,369 people had lost their lives.

In a similar pattern to what neighbouring Spain has witnessed in big city areas like Madrid and Barcelona where Covid-19 cases outstripped the rate in the rest of the country, the capital of Lisbon has accounted for a massive 88 per cent of the new cases.

President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said that what was happening in Lisbon needs special attention.

Lockdown measures are scheduled to be lifted around Lisbon from this Monday (June 1).

In a similar vein to European countries like Greece, Portugal was quick off the mark to try and deal with the coronavirus outbreak.

It did not dither in introducing a state of emergency and a lockdown, which meant fewer problems compared to its Iberian neighbour Spain.

But now the tables have slightly turned, with Spain, despite the row over the counting of new cases and the death toll, logging fewer infections compared to Portugal.

The country, like Spain, has been gradually easing lockdown measures since the start of the month, and both share a very strong economic desire to get international tourism going again.

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Written by

Alex Trelinski

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