According to the bulletin released today by the DGS, 423 people are hospitalised in the ward, 24 less than on Wednesday, and 109 in intensive care, seven less.

Today is the third day of the year with the fewest deaths. On 30 March and 12 April, Portugal also recorded two deaths related to Covid-19.

As for the number of new cases today's figures are similar to those recorded in recent weeks.

The data also reveals that 542 people have been reported recovered, bringing the total number since the start of the pandemic in Portugal in March 2020 to 787,011.

There are 25,414 active cases in Portugal, down 43 from Wednesday.

The number of contacts under surveillance by health authorities has increased by 642 compared to Wednesday, now totalling 19,046.

Since March 2020, Portugal has recorded 16,933 deaths associated with Covid-19 and 829,358 cases of infection with the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus.

According to the latest DGS data, Portugal currently has 2,264,585 people vaccinated against Covid-19, of which 616,426 are already immunised with the two doses.

The transmissibility index (Rt) of the new coronavirus in Portugal is currently 1.06 and the incidence of cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days has reached 72.4, according to official data.

Rt and incidence data are updated on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The two deaths reported by health authorities were recorded in the Northern region.

In the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region 188 new infections have been reported, accounting so far for 314,188 cases and 7,179 deaths.

There has not been a day without deaths in the Lisbon region for almost eight months.

The North region has 156 new infections by SARS-CoV-2 and since the beginning of the pandemic has recorded 333,056 cases of infection and 5,328 deaths.

In the Centre region, 73 more cases have been registered, accumulating 117,995 infections and 3,004 deaths.

In the Alentejo 21 more cases were reported, totalling 29,486 infections and 970 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

In the Algarve region, today's bulletin shows that 32 new cases were registered, accumulating 21,278 infections and 355 deaths.

In the Autonomous Region of Madeira, 15 new cases have been registered, accounting for 8,919 infections and 68 deaths due to Covid-19 since March 2020.

The Azores have 16 new cases today and count 4,436 cases and 29 deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to the DGS.

The regional authorities of the Azores and Madeira release their data daily, which may not coincide with the information released in the DGS bulletin.

The new coronavirus has already infected at least 376,061 men and 453,002 women in Portugal, DGS data show, according to which there are 295 cases of unknown gender, which are under investigation as this information is not provided automatically.

Of the total number of fatalities, 8,897 were men and 8,036 women.

The highest number of deaths continues to be concentrated in the elderly over 80 years old, followed by the age group between 70 and 79 years old.

Of the total deaths, 11,151 were people aged over 80, 3,598 were aged between 70 and 79, and 1,513 were aged between 60 and 69.

The pandemic caused at least 2,974,651 deaths worldwide, resulting from more than 138.2 million cases of infection, according to a report by the French agency AFP.