"We will follow this up with all the attention and we are in articulation with the direction of the hospital", declared the Minister of Health, Marta Temido on 13 February.

Speaking to Portuguese journalists in Brussels, at the end of an extraordinary meeting of health ministers from the European Union on the Covid-19 outbreak, the official explained that, in the case of death after waiting in the emergency room, “there has already been the opening of an internal investigation at this stage”.

"Then, the conduct of the inquiry will depend on what, internally and in the short term, can be found," added Marta Temido.

The official said that the opening of a possible investigation by the Public Prosecutor's Office "will depend on the preliminary conclusions [of the internal investigation] and could happen".

The Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro Hospital Centre (CHTMAD) announced on Wednesday, 12 February, that it will investigate the circumstances in which a 65-year-old man died on Monday, 10 February, after having waited six hours to be seen at the Hospital from Lamego.

In a statement, CHTMAD explained that, on Monday, "the turnout for emergency services at the Lamego unit was exceptionally high, when compared to the previous days".

The patient "had a worsening of the clinical condition" and was "assisted on the spot and taken to the emergency room", having ended up dying, he added.

CHTMAD reported that on that day, between 8am and 8pm, 128 patients were treated, of which 116 received the yellow or orange bracelet during the screening.

The newspaper Correio da Manhã reported that the man, who had a lung disease, “died in the woman's arms after having been waiting for six hours to be seen by a doctor in the emergency room at Hospital de Lamego”, in the district of Viseu.

"The family is angry and accuses the health unit of medical negligence," added the publication.