The covid-19 pandemic in Portugal is on an “increasing trend” in the 80+ age group, according to the report ‘Monitoring the red lines for covid-19’, released this Friday by the General Directorate of Health (DGS) and by the National Institute of Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge (INSA).

According to the document, “no age group aged 80 or over an increase accumulated to 14 days shows an increasing trend, and this group has a higher risk of infection than the general population (113 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 14 days)” .

Portugal has an occurrence of 84 cases per 100,000 inhabitants accumulated in the last 14 days, which represents “a stable trend at the national level”. “No region listed an incidence above the threshold of 240 cases in 14 days per 100,000 inhabitants”, he points out.

On the other hand, the transmissibility ratio (RT) shows “a stable increasing trend”, by presenting a “value equal to or greater than 1”. The RT is 1 nationally and in most regions, with the exception of the North and Algarve which shows a decreasing trend (0.97 and 0.85 respectively).

As well as the number of cases, the number of people hospitalized in Intensive Care Units (ICU) with symptoms of coverage-19 in mainland Portugal “revealed a stable trend, corresponding to 22% (in the previous week it was 22%) of the defined critical value of 255 occupied beds”.

Also “specific mortality by COVID-19 (9.2 deaths in 14 days per 1,000,000 population) shows a stable trend, which reveals a reduced impact of the pandemic in terms of mortality by covid-19 (less than 10 deaths per million in 14 days) ”.

In the last week, the positivity rate of tests performed for the SARS-CoV-2 virus was 1.4%, “below the defined threshold of 4.0%”. There was also “an increase in the number of tests for detection of SARS-CoV-2 carried out in the last seven days”.

According to the report, “the Delta variant (B.1.617.2), associated with India, is the dominant variant in all regions, with a relative frequency of 100% of cases” occurring between 27 September and 3 October.

In short, “an analysis of the different indicators reveals an epidemic of SARS-CoV-2 of reduced intensity, with a stable trend at national level, however with an increasing trend in the most vulnerable population aged 80 and over”. On the other hand, “the pressure on health services and influence on mortality has a reduced impact and a stable trend”.