Between 1 February and today, 47,403 new cases of coronavirus were registered and from 25th to 31st January the number was 84,326, which is a reduction of 56.2 percent. On Sunday, virologist Pedro Simas said in statements to the Lusa agency that Portugal is experiencing an abrupt reduction in the number of new cases due to lockdown, and that the closure of schools two weeks ago was key to this result.

“This was perfectly predictable and depended on good behavior and adherence to total lockdown and what I see is that there was fantastic adherence and the result is in sight because biology is factual. If there are no contact and people adhere to the rules, viruses cannot transmit. It's in our hands. That is why the decline curve is so steep ”, stressed the virologist at the Molecular Institute of the University of Lisbon. “The closure of schools was decisive because it is a clear message for Portuguese society. When schools are closed it is because the matter is serious, “he said, adding that having schools open means a lot of adult movement.

In addition to the reduction in new cases, the figures released daily by the Directorate-General for Health also show that in the last eight days Portugal registered a drop above 20 percent in the number of active cases. As of 1 February, Portugal had 179,180 active cases. A week later, that figure decreased to 140,644 cases, with a consistent daily reduction. In the last week of January, the number of active cases rose daily, reaching 181,623 to 31 January. The data also show a decrease in the number of contacts in surveillance. In one week the country has 39,448 fewer surveillance contacts going from 220,353 to 180,905. In one week there is also a record level of recovery for a total of 78,537 patients.

Regarding the number of people who died, the daily bulletins of DGS report that in the first week of February Portugal registered 1,597 deaths, 50.4 percent of which in the region of Lisbon and the Tagus Valley. In the last week of January, 2,013 people died from covid-19 in Portugal. In the first month of the year, 5,569 people died of the disease, which makes January the worst ever since the beginning of a pandemic in March 2020.

Portugal today registered 196 deaths related to covid-19 and 2,505 cases of infection with the new coronavirus, according to the Directorate-General for Health (DGS). Since 28 December, Portugal has not register such a low number of new cases, when the country had 2,093 new infections daily The number of deaths today is also the lowest since 18 January, when 167 deaths occurred.

Since March 2020, Portugal has recorded 14,354 deaths associated with covid-19 and 767,919 cases of infection. The covid-19 pandemic caused at least 2,140,687 deaths resulting from more than 99.6 million cases of infection worldwide, according to a report made by the French agency AFP.