Asked by Lusa about the resumption of care activity not associated with Covid-19, the administration of the University Hospital Centre of the Algarve (CHUA) said the "scheduled surgeries performed in March and April 2021 represent more than double the surgeries performed in January and February 2021".

According to the same source, non-covid assistance activity "grew significantly from March 2021 onwards", following "the easing" of the epidemiological situation.

However, this growth in assistance activity "was noted with more expressiveness in the surgical area than in external consultations, since in these the assistance conditioning associated with the pandemic was lower.

After months of great pressure, with dozens of daily deaths, Portuguese hospitals are now experiencing a calm phase in which the number of patients admitted with Covid-19 does not reach two dozen in each hospital.

The situation of greater pressure led to the opening of field hospitals, the construction of intensive care units, the transfer of patients between regions and the cancellation of care activities for non-covid patients, now being recovered.

According to the administration of the hospital centre - which brings together the hospitals of Faro, Portimão and one, smaller, in Lagos - the number of surgeries performed in March and April is already "significantly higher" than in 2020.

As for the specialties with the greatest constraints, the CHUA points to Ophthalmology, Orthopaedics, General Surgery, Gynaecology, Neurosurgery and Urology as "those that, in absolute number, have the most patients awaiting surgery or first outpatient hospital consultation".

Regarding consultations, in March and April of this year there was a 20 percent increase in the number of consultations in the region's hospital units, compared to January and February, the same source added.