Portugal now has an occupancy rate of about 94% at its intensive-care units. Earlier, officials said they only had seven vacant beds left in intensive care units set up for COVID-19 cases on its mainland, which has prompted the authorities to send some critical patients to Madeira and the Azores. The government has attributed the surge in infections to a decision to relax restrictions over the Christmas period, blaming the speed at which infections have spread on a new variant first detected in Britain.