According to the epidemiological bulletin of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) released today, 514 people are now hospitalised, the highest figure since September 15, when 527 patients were hospitalised.

Compared to Tuesday, 28 more patients are hospitalised in the wards and less five in intensive care units.

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

Regarding the victims' ages, four were over 80 years old, another four between 70 and 79, and one between 50 and 59 years old.

Since March 2020, 18,283 people have died and 1,112,682 cases of infection have been recorded.

The greatest number of deaths continues to be concentrated among the elderly over 80 years old (11,928), followed by the age groups between 70 and 79 years old (3,915) and between 60 and 69 years old (1,666).

Of the total number of fatalities registered to date in Portugal, 9,574 were men and 8,709 women.

In the last 24 hours, there were 1,528 more active cases, totalling 39,800 since the beginning of the pandemic, surpassing the number of recovered, plus 990, which increases the national total to 1,054,599 recovered.

The number of contacts under surveillance by health authorities also increased compared to Tuesday, another 1,639, now standing at 36,180.

The highest number of infections in the last 24 hours occurred in the Lisbon and Vale do Tejo region, where 849 were reported, with 428,904 cases and 7,772 deaths so far.

In the Central region there were more than 620 cases registered, totalling 152,133 infections and 3,215 deaths, and in the North region another 616 cases, totalling 421,726, and 5,622 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic crisis.

In the Alentejo, 140 new cases of infection were reported, totalling 40,991 infections and 1,056 deaths, and in the Algarve another 215 cases were recorded, accumulating 45,714 infections by SARS-CoV-2 and 492 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 44 new cases, which raises to 9,725 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.