According to data released by the Directorate-General for Health (DGS), a total of 774 patients are hospitalized with Covid-19, 174 of which are in intensive care. Compared to last week, these numbers represent “a growth of 19 percent in admissions and 18 percent in people hospitalised in intensive care”, said Minister Mariana Vieira da Silva, at a press conference at the end of the Council of Ministers meeting.

Despite the increase, the official underlined that with regard to this indicator, the country remains below the red lines defined at the beginning of the decontamination process and that the registered growth is “slower than the number of cases”. Regarding the response capacity of the National Health Service (NHS), Mariana Vieira da Silva said that it is "controlled" and that the situation in hospitals is not identical in all areas of the country, allowing, therefore, to continue managing national hospital network “as was already done, in fact, even outside the context of the pandemic”. “We do not foresee specific difficulties in the coming weeks. What we understand is that it is necessary to continue to contain the advance of the pandemic in order to continue the vaccination process and this is our main priority”, she added.