Christmas was the deadliest in ten years. Mortality has reached pandemic levels

Deaths in Portugal have peaked since last weekend, and Christmas this year was the day on which the most people died in 10 years, according to official data.

Data from the Mortality Information System (SICO) in Portugal, based on an electronic register of death certificates, shows that 440 people died on Christmas Day – a number that has never been reached on December 25 in the last ten years.

According to the same information, on Thursday the death rate was “much higher than expected.” 448 people died, a figure not reached on the same day since the first year of the pandemic in Portugal (2020), when 453 deaths were recorded on December 28.

Information available on the SICO website also indicates that 325 additional deaths were recorded in the last seven days. Excess mortality is mortality that exceeds what authorities expected on the same day.

Authorities believe there have been higher than expected deaths since Christmas, but more people died on December 24 (415) than on the same day in the last seven years (449 deaths in 2016).

Overall mortality data in Portugal shows an increase since December 24.

The elevated deaths continued after Christmas, remaining 27% higher than expected on December 26, a day when 470 people died, the highest in 10 years.

On the 27th, the system recorded a 21.1% excess mortality rate with 449 deaths, a number that on the same day was only surpassed in 2016.

According to the National Institute of Health Dutor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), the incidence of influenza in the week of December 18 to 24 showed an increasing trend, with 910 positive cases identified, 837 of which were type A.

According to the latest Epidemiological Surveillance Bulletin, since the beginning of October, “85 cases of co-infection with influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 have been identified.” Flu cases have helped fill hospital emergency departments, especially in the Lisbon region, where waiting times for emergency patients were already around 6 p.m. this week.

To respond to the peak in demand, Line SNS 24, which received 204 thousand calls in December, will also open two new call centers.

According to the Department of Health’s General Services Service (SPMS), SNS Line 24 received more than 204,000 calls this month, with more than 9,500 calls answered on the 26th alone (4,000 more than the previous day ), and on the 27th – about 10,200.

To cope with a predictable increase in footfall this holiday season, authorities have kept hundreds of health centers operating extra opening hours over the weekend and over Christmas, a measure that will be repeated throughout the New Year.