COVID-19
Portugal at breaking point
Portugal allocated 850 ICU
beds to treat COVID-19
patients on its mainland.
It needed 877 on Feb. 3.
ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients
Portugal allocated 850 ICU
beds to treat COVID-19
patients on its mainland.
It needed 877 on Feb. 3.
ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients
Portugal allocated 850 ICU
beds to treat COVID-19
patients on its mainland.
It needed 877 on Feb. 3.
ICU beds occupied by COVID-19 patients
Portugal allocated 850 ICU
beds to treat COVID-19
patients on its mainland.
It needed 877 on Feb. 3.
ICU beds occupied
by COVID-19 patients
Hospitals across the country of just over 10 million people are struggling, with ambulances sometimes queueing for hours because of a lack of beds. Some health units are also finding it hard to find enough refrigerated space to preserve the bodies of the deceased.
Health Ministry data showed that out of 850 ICU beds allocated to COVID-19 cases on the mainland, all were now occupied. On Wednesday, there were a record 877 COVID-19 patients in ICU beds. Portugal has an additional 420 ICU beds for those with other ailments, but the high demand on intensive care units to treat severe COVID-19 cases shows the strain the country’s healthcare system is under from the recent surge in coronavirus cases.
With 877 coronavirus patients in intensive care and 6,684 in hospital wards, hospitals are running out of beds, and there is a shortage of doctors and nurses.
Portuguese officials have blamed the huge increase in infection and death rates on the more contagious variant of the disease first detected in Britain, while acknowledging that a relaxation of restrictions on movement over the Christmas holidays also played a role.
As mainland intensive care units became scarce, the regional government on the island of Madeira offered 157 beds to take patients, even though it is also experiencing a spike in COVID-19 cases. Portugal started airlifting patients to Madeira on Jan. 29.
Portugal reported close to half of all of its COVID-19 deaths in January alone, highlighting a steep acceleration in cases that has prompted several European nations to offer help.
A German military plane carrying more than 20 doctors and nurses together with ventilators and hospital beds arrived on Wednesday. The German team will manage a new unit of eight ICU beds in a private hospital in Lisbon, Hospital da Luz, which was equipped but lacked staff, Health Minister Marta Temido said at the military base where the plane landed.
The medical team, consisting of eight doctors and 18 nurses, brought with them 150 hospital beds and 50 ventilators. “This is a vivid sign of European solidarity and a symbol of hope,” German Ambassador Martin Ney said at the military base.
Austria is willing to take intensive care patients and is waiting for Portuguese authorities to propose how many they want to transfer, the Austrian embassy in Lisbon said.
Hard-hit neighbour Spain has offered help, too, but Portugal has yet to accept, a Spanish foreign ministry source told Reuters.
From an exemplary country in 2020 ...
Portugal was able to curb the spread of the coronavirus during the first wave of the pandemic, while nearby countries like Spain and Italy were among the worst hit worldwide. However, a look in detail at excess deaths data for 2020 shows three peaks above average levels in Portugal during the spring, summer and autumn.
Excess death in Europe in 2020
Percentage difference in weekly deaths
in 2020 compared with 2015-2019
average for the same week.
Weekly deaths in Portugal in 2020
Excess death in Europe in 2020
Percentage difference in weekly deaths
in 2020 compared with 2015-2019
average for the same week.
Weekly deaths in Portugal
Most excess death
in the autumn
was related to
COVID-19
Death lower than
average in the first
few months of
2020
During the first
wave, near half
of excess death
was detected as
COVID-19
Excess death in Europe in 2020
Percentage difference in weekly deaths
in 2020 compared with 2015-2019
average for the same week.
Weekly deaths in Portugal
Most excess death
in the autumn
was related to
COVID-19
Death lower than
average in the first
few months of
2020
During the first
wave, near half
of excess death
was detected as
COVID-19
Excess death in Europe in 2020
Percentage difference in weekly deaths
in 2020 compared with 2015-2019
average for the same week.
Weekly deaths in Portugal in 2020
… to the world’s highest infection rate in 2021
Of more than 711,000 infections reported in Portugal since March 2020, 43% were reported in January, 2021, according to health authority DGS. As of Jan. 28, Portugal had the world’s highest seven-day rolling average of new daily cases per million inhabitants, according to data tracker ourworldindata.org.
Portugal is currently reporting 9,067 new infections on average each day, 70% of the peak — the highest daily average reported on Jan. 28. The 5,576 COVID-19 fatalities reported in January represent about 45% of the 12,482 reported since the start of the pandemic.
In the early stages of the pandemic, most of the cases where confirmed in the northern municipalities of Felgueiras and Lousada. Even though Portugal did not have a significant number of cases, the government implemented a series of preventive measures.
During the autumn wave, most of the new cases were concentrated in the northern region and in and around the capital Lisbon.
Cases per 100k
population as
of Feb. 1
Since January, the whole country has been hitting record levels of new infections.
In the early stages of the pandemic, most of the cases where confirmed in the northern municipalities of Felgueiras and Lousada. Even though Portugal did not have a significant number of cases, the government implemented a series of preventive measures.
Cases per 100k
population as
of Feb. 1
During the autumn wave, most of the new cases were concentrated in the northern region and in and around the capital Lisbon.
Since January, the whole country has been hitting record levels of new infections.
In the early stages of the pandemic, most of the cases where confirmed in the northern municipalities of Felgueiras and Lousada. Even though Portugal did not have a significant number of cases, the government implemented a series of preventive measures.
Cases per 100k
population as
of Feb. 1
During the autumn wave, most of the new cases were concentrated in the northern region and in and around the capital Lisbon.
Since January, the whole country has been hitting record levels of new infections.
Cases per 100k population as of Feb. 1
In the early stages of the pandemic, most of the cases where confirmed in the northern municipalities of Felgueiras and Lousada. Even though Portugal did not have a significant number of cases, the government implemented a series of preventive measures.
During the autumn wave, most of the new cases were concentrated in the northern region and in and around the capital Lisbon. Since January, the whole country has been hitting record levels of new infections.
There have been 748,858 infections and 13,482 coronavirus-related deaths reported in the country since the pandemic began.
While many hope vaccinations against the virus will offer the country relief from the daily death toll, so far only about 70,000 people have been fully inoculated with the two required doses.
Sources
Portugal’s Portugal Directorate-General for Health; Portugal Health’s Ministry; Our World in Data; REUTERS
Graphics By
Samuel Granados
Edited by
Jon McClure and Mike Collett-White