LISBON, Mar 1 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The Portuguese government announced yesterday that, it had spent 915.9 million euros (1.11 billion U.S. dollars), on fighting against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Official data showed, expenditure on the health system increased by 11.3 percent in Jan, 2021, compared to the same period last year, with most of it being paid for professionals and medical equipment.
The Ministry of Health reported having contracted 981 hospital beds by the end of Jan this year, with 745 beds from the private and social sectors and 236 from the Armed Forces.
The number of ventilators for the treatment of patients almost doubled, totaling 2,216 pieces of equipment, available through the health system.
Beds in intensive care units more than tripled, rising from 431 beds in Jan, 2020 to 1,411 on Feb 10 this year.
According to the latest data, Portugal currently has 861,922 people vaccinated against the virus: 596,812 with the first dose and 265,110 with the second dose.
Portugal’s confirmed COVID-19 cases now stood at 804,562.
Meanwhile, 255 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide — 73 of them in clinical trials — in countries including Germany, China, Russia, Britain, and the United States, according to information released by the World Health Organisation, on Feb 23.
