The Health Secretary acknowledged this Friday that the increase in deaths this week is “another element of concern”, but warned that the data must be analyzed with caution and studied as a whole.
Deaths in Portugal have peaked since last weekend and Christmas Day this year, with 440 deaths, was the day the most people died in 10 years, according to the Death Certificate Information System (SICO).
Asked on the sidelines of the IPO’s 100th anniversary ceremony in Lisbon whether the rise in deaths could be linked to the pressure the NHS has been under in recent days, the minister said one needed to be “very careful” when analyzing the data.
“In mortality curves, we cannot analyze individual days, we have to see them as a whole,” Manuel Pizarro said, adding that compared with previous years, the death rate was much lower in October and November this year. .
The government official stressed that this was “naturally another element of concern” but insisted that the figures needed to be analyzed “with caution when all the data is collected.”
He also urged the public who are eligible for flu and Covid-19 vaccinations to get vaccinated if they have not already done so.
“We have a huge vaccination coverage, but those Portuguese who are recommended to get vaccinated against flu and COVID-19, which are all people over 60, and who have not yet done so, still have time to go to the health center. or to the pharmacy to get vaccinated,” he emphasized.
Manuel Pizarro, who is also a doctor, stressed that this is the “best measure” that can be taken to prevent the severity of the flu.
According to the latest data from the General Directorate of Health, flu vaccination coverage for people aged 60 years and older is 61.87%.
Flu cases are putting a strain on hospital emergency departments, especially in the Lisbon region, where waiting times for emergency patients are already around 6pm 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.