"More than 45 percent of covid-19 screening tests in Portugal were carried out in May. This is the month in which most tests have been carried out since the beginning of the pandemic" in the country, said António Lacerda Sales.

At the daily press conference to update information about the pandemic in Portugal, António Lacerda Sales said that "more than 363,000 tests" have already been carried out this month and "the data has yet to be fully accounted for".

The Secretary of State said that "the network of laboratories that process samples" continues to grow for testing, which currently comprises 89 laboratories, 38 of which are from the National Health Service, 26 are private and 25 are from the Army and academia.

At the press conference, the director general of Health, Graça Freitas, said that on Wednesday, 27 May, a new guideline on tests under the responsibility of Infarmed - National Authority for Medicines and Health Products, from the National Institute of Health, Doctor Ricardo Jorge the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).

It is "a tripartite circular of three institutions" and "it aims above all to clarify very well, to date always", the types of tests that exist on the market, namely what can be expected from, what is it for and under what circumstances it should be used each test, explained Graça Freitas.

According to the director-general of Health, the guidance that came out on Wednesday on the type, characteristics and destinations of the existing tests, "will then be combined with a new guidance from the DGS already with a testing plan not thinking now [in present], but thinking about the future and how the next phases will be".