"The barrier of one million first doses of vaccines administered against Covid-19 has already been overcome in Portugal today", a task force source coordinated by Vice Admiral Henrique Gouveia e Melo told Lusa News Agency.

The same source added that "at the same time, the value of about half a million second inoculated doses will be reached", with Thursday being "the day with the highest volume of doses administered at 50 thousand".

Portugal started vaccinating the population on 27 December, 2020. On the first day 4,534 people were vaccinated.

On Thursday, Prime Minister António Costa said that the European Union (EU) would ban exports of vaccines as a “last resort”.

The head of the Government, who conveyed this position at a press conference at the end of a meeting of the European Council, added that the European Commission (EC) is working to organise at European level an additional effort to increase production capacity.