“With the cessation of the state of alert, on October 1, 2022, and the consequent change in testing, there was a sharp drop in the Rt that may not correspond to a real decrease”, indicates the INSA weekly report on the evolution of the pandemic in Portugal.

On 29 September, the Council of Ministers decided not to renew the state of alert in mainland Portugal due to the Covid-19 pandemic, having also ended the validity of several laws, decree-laws and resolutions approved in the context of combating Covid-19.

In practice, in addition to isolation being no longer mandatory, tests for Covid-19 are no longer prescribed through the SNS24 and are now reimbursed by medical prescription.

The test for Covid-19 is only reimbursed 100% when prescribed by a unit of the National Health Service (SNS).

According to the INSA report, the Rt - which estimates the number of secondary cases of infection resulting from each person carrying the virus - dropped from 0.98 to 0.63 nationally and the five-day average of new daily infections fell from 2,644 to 953.

By regions, only the Azores (1.03) and Madeira (1.13) have an Rt above the threshold of 1, with this indicator having dropped significantly to 0.62 in the North, 0.62 in the Center, 0.64 in Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, 0.75 in the Alentejo and 0.70 in the Algarve.