In the joint epidemiological bulletin of the Directorate-General for Health and the National Institute of Health Doctor Ricardo Jorge, it is noted that the national incidence rate dropped from 419.2 cases verified on Wednesday to 394.6. Only in mainland, this indicator also dropped from 439.2 cases registered last week to 403.1 of SARS-CoV-2 infection per 100 thousand inhabitants.

As for the Rt - which estimates the number of secondary cases of infection resulting from an infected person - it dropped on 2 August from 0.98 reported on Friday to 0.94 nationwide, maintaining the downward trend. On the mainland the Rt also dropped from 0.98 to 0.94.

The Rt data and the incidence of new cases per 100,000 inhabitants within 14 days - indicators that make up the risk matrix for monitoring the pandemic - are updated by the health authorities every Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

According to the Government portal for covid-19 on the Internet, “the monitoring of the evolution of the pandemic will continue to be based on the indicators of incidence and Rt [transmissibility index], now adapted according to the evolution of vaccination (alert level goes to 240, risk level goes to 480)”.

The change in the risk matrix had been suggested by experts at the meeting at Infarmed, on 27 July.