Speaking to Lusa News Agency, Ana Cristina Guerreiro said that there are "many cases" in the resident population, however, she points out the presence of a "large number of national tourists [on long weekends] and foreigners" as a factor that has contributed to “these numbers of daily cases”.

Until 00:00 on 22 June, the cumulative incidence rate of covid-19 to 14 days in the Algarve was 186 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, following a “progressively increasing” trend, said the regional Health delegate for the Algarve.

Asked about the influence of the Delta variant of the new coronavirus, she said she suspected that the variant may have influenced the “fast increase in the number of cases” in the Algarve, taking into account the situation in Lisbon.

However, she stressed, its presence in the region is unknown, because the local health authorities are still awaiting the result of a hundred samples that were sent for evaluation to the National Health Institute Doctor Ricardo Jorge (INSA).

Among the resident population, the majority of cases continue to spread, above all, in households with few conditions of isolation and in “extended family meetings, at dinners and parties”.

On Friday, at a press conference, the Health delegate had mentioned that a third of the cases of Covid-19 in the Algarve were foreigners, mostly tourists, requesting for a review of the criteria for calculating the incidence rate.