According to the latest bulletin from the Ricardo Jorge Institute that monitors the incidence of flu, since the start of last December until 22 February, there were 4,625 more deaths than expected and the highest peak since the 1998/1999 flu season when 8,514 died.
Whilst Freitas acknowledged that the Portuguese health service had been under strain over the winter, she said the realities between the two outbreaks had been sharply different.
“Obviously when there are problems with services there are always two aspects: one is the demand and the other is supply. However, we do need to highlight that the reality is very different to 1998. Today we have a far more elderly population, often living on their own and with multiple medical conditions,” said the healthcare manager.
Freitas went onto explain that the flu season came in conjunction with many elderly people already experiencing medical health conditions with correspondingly weakened physiological systems and arriving at hospitals in far worse physical states.
“Even while the numbers attending emergency services and health centres are not extraordinarily high, the type of pathologies and treatments that these patients require proves far, far more intense”.
The latest flu report stated that Portugal continues to see above average mortality even while the level of flu remained at moderate levels with 848 cases reported since the beginning of the year and a rate of 44 cases per 100,000 citizens between 16 and 22 February.
Freitas indeed maintained that the flu peak was now past even while she confirmed the authorities would retain the extended health centre opening hours for several weeks yet.
The latest statistics available on the General Directorate of Health website report that in the week running from 16 to 22 February, there were a total of 2,741 deaths, down 265 on the preceding week.