In a press conference, the president of INE, Francisco Lima, said that by 11:00 on 19 April, the census day to which all responses must refer, more than 90 thousand inquiries had been delivered.

In the last two weeks, enumerators hired by INE have delivered around 4.5 million letters with codes to answer the survey at https://censos2021.ine.pt, covering more than six million households, 1.6 million of which they are not habitual residences.

Francisco Lima admitted that during the morning, the INE website was having difficulties accessing, advising people who want to answer and are unable to access "wait a few minutes and try again".

The responses to the census survey should preferably be submitted by 3 May and the responses can also be given remotely by telephone or at parish councils.

The Minister of State and the Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, stressed that "in a pandemic, the Census is an even more complex operation", calling for the greatest possible number of responses to be given over the internet.

In any case, even if it is necessary for the enumerators to go to people's homes to collect the responses to the paper survey - a possibility that still exists and should happen from mid-May - the INE coordinated with the General Directorate of Health to do everything safely.

Maria Vieira da Silva also pointed out as an innovation of this census the existence of translations in 11 languages ​​of the survey, with the deaf population also being able to access the translation in Portuguese sign language.

The INE official pointed out that responses to the Censuses are mandatory and that fines are provided for in the law for those who do not answer.

The INE support line for Census 2021 works between 9:00 am and 9:00 pm with the number 210 542 021.