Portugal's COVID intensive care occupancy dips from record high

The number of patients with COVID-19 requiring intensive care in Portugal's struggling hospitals dipped on Saturday from the previous day's record high and the country reported fewer daily deaths and new infections.

The number of patients with COVID-19 requiring intensive care in Portugal's struggling hospitals dipped on Saturday from the previous day's record high and the country reported fewer daily deaths and new infections. Data from Portugal's health authority showed 891 people were in intensive care, 13 fewer than on Friday, while a total of 6,158 people were in the hospital with coronavirus, down from 6,412 the previous day.

A recent surge in infections has left hospitals on the verge of collapse, with ambulances sometimes queuing for hours because of a lack of beds. There were 214 deaths from COVID-19, below Friday's 258, and the number of daily infections totalled 6,132, in a further retreat from end-January levels when daily deaths were above 300 and infections peaked at 16,432. The country has been in lockdown since mid-January.

A total of 13,954 people have died of the disease since the start of the pandemic, which did not hit Portugal particularly hard in its first wave in March-April 2020 but returned with a vengeance last month. Officials have blamed the increase in infections and death rates on the more contagious variant first detected in Britain, but acknowledge that looser restrictions over the Christmas holidays may have also played a role.