According to the DGS epidemiological bulletin released today, 288 people are now hospitalised, two more than on Wednesday, of which 58 are in intensive care units, the same number as on Wednesday.

The eight deaths were registered in the regions of Lisbon (2), North (1), Centre (3), the Alentejo (1) and the Algarve (1).

Five of the fatalities were over 80 years old, one between 70 and 79 and two between 60 and 69 years old.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, in March 2020, 18,117 people have died in Portugal and 1,082,721 cases of infection have been registered.

The greatest number of deaths continues to be concentrated among the elderly over 80 years old (11,821), followed by the age group between 70 and 79 years old (3,877).

Of the total number of fatalities registered to date, 9,502 in Portugal were men and 8,615 women.

Data released by the DGS also show that over 193 cases are active, for a total of 30 561, and that 664 people were reported as recovered from covid-19 in the last 24 hours, which increases the national total to 1,034,043 recovered.

In the last 24 hours, the number of contacts under surveillance by the health authorities dropped (another 124), standing at 20,577.

The new coronavirus has already infected in Portugal at least 581,308 women and 500,669 men, according to data from the DGS, according to which there are 744 cases of unknown sex, which are under investigation, since this information is not provided automatically .

Among the new infections, the age group from 20 to 29 years (over 158) stands out, followed by 30 to 39 (over 129), from 40 to 49 years (over 125), from 0 to 9 years (over 104), from 50 to 59 years (over 91), from 60 to 69 (over 83), from 10 to 19 (over 78), from 70 to 79 (over 44) and from over 80 (over 53).

The Lisbon and Vale do Tejo region and the North region concentrate around 64.5% per cent of infections reported in the last 24 hours.

In the Lisbon and Vale do Tejo region, 356 new infections were reported, with 418,142 cases and 7,712 deaths in this geographical area so far.

The Northern region registered 224 new infections by SARS-CoV-2, totalling 414,199 cases of infection and 5,589 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic crisis.

In the Centre region there were 152 more cases, totalling 145,271 infections and 3,174 deaths.

In the Alentejo, 35 new cases of infection were reported, totalling 39,890 infections and 1,049 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.

In the Algarve region, today's DGS bulletin counts 65 new cases, accumulating 43,520 infections by SARS-CoV-2 and 476 deaths

The Autonomous Region of Madeira recorded 22 new cases, totalling 12,503 infections and 73 deaths due to the covid-19 disease since March 2020.

In the last 24 hours, and according to DGS, the Azores registered 33 new cases, which raises to 9,196 infections since the beginning of the pandemic and 44 deaths due to the disease.

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