2,806 people are hospitalised, 34 less than on Thursday, of which 483 are in intensive care (one more).

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Portugal has recorded 6,972 deaths and 420,629 cases of infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, 74,989 of which are currently active, 2,493 more than on Thursday.

Health authorities are keeping 91,527 contacts under surveillance, 2,993 more than in the previous day.

The bulletin also reveals that another 4,392 people were reported to have recovered.

Since the beginning of the epidemic in Portugal, in March, 334,276 people have recovered.

Regarding the 66 deaths recorded in the last 24 hours, ten less than in the previous period, 28 occurred in the North, 10 in the Central region, 23 in Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, three in Alentejo, one in the Algarve and one in Madeira.

According to the DGS bulletin, the North region was the one that registered the highest number of new infections in the last 24 hours (2,745). Since the beginning of the pandemic, the region has registered 212,709 cases of infection and 3,222 deaths.

In the region of Lisbon and the Tagus Valley, 2,131 new infections were reported, accounting for 135,870 cases and 2,415 deaths so far.

In the Central region, 1,474 more cases were recorded, with 49,195 infections and 1,006 deaths.

In the Alentejo, another 308 cases were reported, totalling 11,431 infections and 221 deaths since the beginning of the epidemic in Portugal.

The Algarve region has today reported 199 new cases, totalling 7,897 infections and 72 deaths.

Madeira registered 41 new cases. This autonomous region has 1,642 infections and 14 deaths due to covid-19.

In the Autonomous Region of the Azores, 53 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours, totaling 1,885 infections and 22 deaths.

Confirmed cases are distributed across all age groups, with the highest number of infections between 20 and 59 years of age.

Of the total fatalities, 3,623 were men and 3,349 women.

The largest number of deaths continues to be concentrated in the elderly over 80 years old, followed by people aged between 70 and 79 years old.

Portugal started on Sunday the first vaccination phase against covid-19, with the first batch of 9,750 doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech to be distributed by health professionals.

The state of emergency, enacted on November 9, was renewed until January 7, with mandatory curfew in counties with the highest risk of contagion.