Today's figures exceed the previous highs, recorded on Tuesday with 155 deaths, and on January 8 with 10,176 cases of infection with the new coronavirus.

The DGS epidemiological bulletin also indicates that 4,240 people are hospitalised, 197 more than on Tuesday, of which 596 are in intensive care, three less.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Portugal has registered 8,236 deaths associated with Covid-19 and 507,108 cases of infection, and today 116,328 cases are active, 5,940 more than on Tuesday.

According to DGS data, 70.3 percent of the new cases registered today are in the North and Lisbon and Tagus Valley regions.

Health authorities have 130,887 contacts under surveillance, 5,591 more than the previous day.

The bulletin also reveals that 4,460 people have been reported as recovered.

Since the beginning of the epidemic in Portugal, in March, 382,544 people have recovered.

Of the 156 deaths registered in the last 24 hours, 67 occurred in Lisbon and Tagus Valley, 36 in the North region, 36 in the Centre region, 11 in Alentejo and six in the Algarve region.

Also according to the DGS bulletin, 3,793 new infections have been reported in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region, with 167,547 cases and 2,910 deaths so far.

The Northern region has registered 3,628 new infections by SARS-CoV-2 in the last 24 hours. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the Northern region has registered 242,209 cases of infection and 3,569 deaths.

In the Centre region there have been a further 2,136 cases, with 65,184 infections and 1,269 deaths.

In Alentejo a further 475 cases were reported, totalling 16,205 infections and 347 deaths since the beginning of the epidemic in Portugal.

The Algarve region has today reported 411 new cases, totalling 10,982 infections and 99 deaths.

Madeira has registered 44 new cases. This autonomous region accounts for 2,256 infections and 20 deaths due to Covid-19.

In the Autonomous Region of the Azores 69 new cases have been registered in the last 24 hours, totalling 2,725 infections and 22 deaths.

The confirmed cases are spread over all age groups, with the highest number of infections recorded between 20 and 59 years of age.

The new coronavirus has already infected at least 228,094 men and 278,847 women in Portugal, according to DGS data, 167 cases of unknown sex are under investigation as these data are not provided automatically.

Of the total number of fatalities, 4,289 were men and 3,947 women.

The highest number of deaths is still concentrated in the elderly over the age of 80, followed by people aged between 70 and 79.

The covid-19 pandemic caused at least 1,963,557 deaths as a result of over 91.5 million cases of infection worldwide, according to a report by the French agency AFP.