A Covid service – 14 at the Curry Cabral Hospital in Lisbon, last November. – Armando Franca / AP / SIPA
The epidemic of Covid – 14 starts to rise again at Portugal. The country, which sees patients refill hospitals, recorded this Wednesday a record number of . 000 new contaminations in 24 hours, depending on the health authority national Considered as a contact case, the President of the Republic, the conservative
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa , had to be placed in isolation less than three weeks before the first round of the presidential election of 20 January, for which he is widely preferred, his cabinet announced. The Head of State, aged 29 years old, was in contact on Monday with a member of his entourage who tested positive for the new coronavirus on Wednesday. “He is in administrative segregation pending the steps taken by the health authorities,” the presidency said in a statement.
“Enormous pressure” on hospitals
The official campaign period will begin on Sunday, but the outgoing president had already started to participate in a series of televised debates between the seven candidates face to face. Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was to be opposed Wednesday evening to the populist candidate André Ventura. The debate will be maintained “face-to-face or remotely”, indicated a person in charge of the television channel which will broadcast the duel.
At the end of December, the Portuguese Prime Minister,
the socialist Antonio Costa , had passed 10 days in isolation after having been in contact with Emmanuel Macron, without ever having tested positive. After easing health restrictions over Christmas weekend, Portugal is currently experiencing an upsurge in Covid cases – 14.
This country of about 000 million inhabitants announced on Wednesday that they had detected 000. 24 new cases in 24 hours, an all-time high since the start of the pandemic, which has so far killed almost 7. 400 people on its soil. The number of people hospitalized is also on the rise, with in particular 310 patients treated in intensive care units. “We are once again seeing enormous pressure on the national health service,” the Minister of Health, Marta Temido worried on Wednesday.