According to the epidemiological bulletin of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) released today, 486 people are now hospitalised, 16 more than on Monday, of which 80 are in intensive care units, plus four in the last 24 hours.

The nine deaths were registered in the Centre (three), in Lisbon and Vale do Tejo (three), in the Algarve (one) and in Madeira (two).

According to the DGS, the fatal victims are aged between 50 and 59 years (two), from 70 to 79 years (one) and the elderly aged 80 or over (six).

Since March 2020, 18,274 people have died and 1,110,155 cases of infection have been recorded.

The greatest number of deaths continues to be concentrated among the elderly over 80 years old (11,925), followed by the age groups between 70 and 79 years old (3,911) and between 60 and 69 years old (1,665).

Of the total number of fatalities registered to date in Portugal, 9,571 were men and 8,703 women.

Data released by the DGS also show that in the last 24 hours active cases decreased, minus 86, to a total of 38,272, and that 1,770 people were reported as recovered from covid-19, which increases the national total to 1,053,609 recovered.

In the last 24 hours, the number of contacts under surveillance by the health authorities has risen (another 1,557), now standing at 34,541.

The highest number of infections in the last 24 hours occurred in the Lisbon and Vale do Tejo region, where 556 were reported, with 428,055 cases and 7,769 dead so far in this geographic area.

The Northern region registered 572 new infections by SARS-CoV-2, totalling 421,110 cases of infection and 5,620 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic crisis.

In the Centre region there were 388 more cases, totalling 151,513 infections and 3,212 deaths.

In the Alentejo, 36 new cases of infection were reported, totalling 40,851 infections and 1,056 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

In the Algarve region, today's DGS bulletin counts 131 new cases, accumulating 45,499 infections by SARS-CoV-2 and 491 deaths.

The Autonomous Region of Madeira registered 64 new cases, totalling 13,446 infections and 79 deaths due to the covid-19 disease since March 2020.

In the last 24 hours, and according to DGS, the Azores registered 46 new cases, which raises to 9,681 infections since the beginning of the pandemic and 47 deaths due to the disease.

The regional authorities of the Azores and Madeira publish their data daily, which may not coincide with the information published in the DGS bulletin.