Portugal sees record 3,669 COVID-19 cases in 24 hours
Oct 24, 2020
Lisbon [Portugal], October 24 (ANI/Xinhua): Portugal saw 3,669 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, a new record of infections in a single day, taking the total count of cases to 116,109.
According to the epidemiological bulletin of the Directorate-General for Health (DGS), there were 21 more deaths related to COVID-19 taking the death toll to 2,297.
The number of hospital admissions reached 1,455, with 221 patients in intensive care units.
A total of 57,024 people are under observation, 431 fewer than Friday. At present, there are 45,970 active infections, 1,686 more than that in the past 24 hours.
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said that the "state of calamity" is the necessary tool at this moment to control the spread of the pandemic.
"We have to be aware that this is not a short-term race, it is a marathon and we cannot exclude the need to take any measures at the necessary times," he told reporters.
Many countries, including Germany, China, Russia, Britain and the United States, are racing to find a vaccine against COVID-19.
According to the website of the World Health Organization, as of October 19, there were 198 COVID-19 candidate vaccines being developed worldwide and 44 of them are in clinical trials. (ANI/Xinhua)
