“It is not a fatality to be elderly, to have diseases and covid-19. Even among the elderly, the mortality rate is relatively low, ”said Graça Freitas at the daily press conference on the pandemic.

The official explained that, in Portugal, the death of all those infected with covid-19 is part of the mortality rate due to infection, even if the “basic cause of death” is another disease.

“In someone who is very ill, with a neoplastic disease [a form of cancer], even if he dies because of that disease, if he is infected with covid we count it as death by covid. We are not considering the basic cause of death ”, explained Graça Freitas.

The head of the Directorate-General for Health also noted that "there has been an increase" in the mortality rate due to covid-19, but "since the beginning of April the daily growth has been stable".

As for the average age of deaths by covid, “in the whole country” is 81.4 years.

"But this average is higher in the Centro region, where it is 83.5 years old," he said.

Graça Freitas also referred that "most deaths occur in hospitals" and that "there is no difference" in mortality between genders.

The official also said that many of the dead, in addition to old age, had "several pathologies" associated with them, "namely three, four or even more".