Coronavirus: Portugal has the highest seven-day average rate in the world of new cases per 100,000 population

European country hits world’s highest seven-day average per 100,000 population, according to Johns Hopkins University

Prime Minster António Costa says he should not have loosened restrictions over Christmas

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The number of coronavirus cases in Portugal is on the rise. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:00pm, 23 Jan 2021Updated: 6:15am, 24 Jan 2021

Portugal last week joined the ranks of countries hit hardest by Covid-19 infections, reporting on Thursday the world’s highest per capita seven-day average for new cases, according to Johns Hopkins University, mirroring a surge seen in other European nations.

Infections rose after Covid-19 restrictions were lifted during Christmas holidays. On December 24 and 25, free movement between districts was allowed and restaurants stayed open until 1am.

Prime Minister António Costa said in a parliamentary debate on Wednesday that in hindsight he should not have loosened the rules. The following day, he added new restrictions, mainly the closing of all schools, to a nationwide lockdown unveiled the previous week.

Carlos Antunes, a mathematician at the University of Lisbon, has been running epidemiological models for Covid-19 in Portugal and advises government officials on mitigation strategies.

He said that besides the flurry of movement caused by the exemptions for the holiday season and the delay in closing schools, Portugal’s contact tracing system also took a break during Christmas week, resulting in 5,000 cases being missed by the health authorities.

“At this moment our contact tracing capacity is still well below what is necessary to control this wave. Our estimates indicate that we are letting slip between 2,300 to 2,500 cases daily,” he said.

“The peak of this wave could reach 17,000 daily cases in two weeks.”