Portugal’s third Covid wave ‘driven by UK variant’

The country has the world’s highest per capita seven-day averages for cases and deaths

The country’s hospitals are on the verge of being overwhelmed (AFP via Getty Images)

Portugal’s surging third coronavirus wave is being driven by the highly transmissible variant first detected in the UK, according to the country’s health minister, as the daily death tolls continue to rise sharply.

Record numbers of deaths were set every day last week, increasing from 167 on 18 January to 275 on 24 January, and rising to 303 yesterday. Portugal blames the sustained rise in deaths and new cases on the more virulent variant first identified in southeast England.  

“The risk of this virus spreading through society has increased,” Prime Minister António Costa told a news conference last week. “We have seen that, in the space of a week, the variant has spread significantly.” 

The variant accounted for around 20 per cent last week, the health minister, Marta Temido, told broadcaster RTP, warning the figure could reach 60 per cent by this week.

The country, which has a population of 10 million, now has the world's highest per capita seven-day averages of both new cases and deaths. Last Thursday the seven-day average of the daily death toll stood at 186; yesterday it catapulted to 275.

Portugal suspended all flights to and from the UK from Saturday in order to limit the influx of the new variant, first identified in Kent. Only repatriation flights between the countries are allowed.

It came a week after the UK halted flights to and from Portugal in an effort to stop a variant detected in Brazil from reaching the UK – a decision labelled “absurd” by the Portuguese government.

The UK variant, also known as B117, has spread to more than 50 countries since it was first detected in the southeast of England in September 2020. Public Health England estimates it is between 30 and 50 per cent more transmissible than the first strain, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned that it “may be associated with a higher degree of mortality”.

In light of the sustained rise in new cases and deaths, parliament voted to extend Portugal’s lockdown this week until mid-February, with prime minister shouldering the blame for the world's worst coronavirus surge that has seen the country’s health system on the verge of becoming overwhelmed.

Mr Costa said the coronavirus situation had deteriorated in part because of the decision to relax measures between Christmas and the New Year, and the surge in the number of cases caused by the new variant.

"There were certainly errors: often the way I transmitted the message to the Portuguese ... and, when the recipient of the message did not understand the message, then it is the messenger's fault," he said. 

The lockdown, which came into force on 15 January, should begin to cause infection numbers to fall from next week, he added. Schools have been closed and people told to work remotely where possible, while non-essential services have been halted.

"Unfortunately we are dealing with a disease that surprises us every day and we do not give up... we continue to fight every day," Ms Temido told parliament before representatives voted to extend the measures.