Today marks a year since the emergence of the first confirmed case of Covid 19 in Portugal. In a message published on his website, Portugal’s president Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa praised how the SNS National Health Service and the social and private sectors rallied in a "meritorious way" in response to the pandemic. According to the head of state, over the past 12 months, "globally, the country has adjusted to the pandemic, at times “more proactively” and, others, “more reactively”.