“We have had two years of infection. This already allows us to understand that the infection has a seasonal characteristic. We actually had two waves the first year, winter and summer, and we had two waves this year. Now the winter wave will begin”, said the president of the Public Health Institute of the University of Porto (ISPUP).

According to the doctor the virus continues to circulate with a "seasonal character" in winter, as it is a typical period of respiratory diseases, but also in summer, due to the high mobility at that time of year.

Despite this, Henrique Barros stressed that, next winter, the pandemic “will never reach” the situation registered earlier this year, even though it is foreseeable that respiratory infections will significantly increase, “of which a relatively small proportion will be Covid-19”.

“There is a clear relationship between infections in different countries and the proportion of those vaccinated. That's why Portugal, in the group of European countries, is one of the ones that has the fewest cases and the fewest deaths”, added the specialist, for whom the predictable doubling of the number of infections does not mean “double the number of hospitalised cases”.

According to the president of the National Health Council, “it is worth keeping some precautionary measures”, considering that the “golden rule” is not to leave the house with symptoms of Covid-19.

"I think that a balanced measure is, with symptoms, never leave the house. This is the first and golden rule", said the expert, while still defending hand hygiene and the use of masks in closed spaces with greater risk of Contagion.