Ms Gonçalves said there were 10 patients in isolation at the hospital, but only five had klebsiella pneumoniae (KPC).

“The isolation measures are to stop the transmission of this kind of bacteria, but I want to stress that they (patients) are only carriers. None of them is ill because of the multidrug-resistant bacteria. There is no risk of them dying from this infection. They are pure and simply carriers”, she said.

Last year, three people died at Gaia hospital near Oporto, and more recently there were another three at the Centro Hospitalar e Universitário de Coimbra because of multidrug-resistant KPC.