Portugal reached the peak of the fifth wave of Covid last week, mathematician Óscar Felgueiras told Renascença.

The specialist says that the highest number of cases was registered on 25 January and that, after a week, the country is already “on a downward trajectory, which will be more noticeable throughout this week”. Anticipating that it will be “natural” to have a “disruption” in the numbers due to the election weekend, Óscar Felgueiras says that “we were already experiencing a process of slowing down of sustained growth” and that “this slowdown is giving way to the beginning of a descent”, adding that "in the next few days it will be more evident."

The mathematician believes, therefore, that there is a “slowdown” in the increase in cases — “they were increasing, but less and less” — and that the decrease in cases will be “relatively fast”. “The peak [in the age group up to nine years] will have been reached five days ago” and, therefore, it is expected that in the near future this trend will spread to the other age groups, starting “with the parents' generation” and ending with “ reaching everyone”.