“We currently have 80,000 swabs and 260,000 tests in delivery. This is relevant because in the last few days we have had a shortage of swabs, whether in public or private entities, ”said Marta Temido at the press conference held daily at the Directorate-General for Health (DGS).

The minister said that between March 1 and April 1, 88,497 diagnostic tests were carried out on Covid-19, 53% of which were in the public environment and 47% in the private environment.

"On April 1 alone, 9,041 SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic samples were processed, this was the day with the highest number of diagnostic samples processed," he said.

According to Marta Temido, the hospital and laboratory network of the National Health Service currently has 26 units with testing capacity, in addition to the Ricardo Jorge Health Institute.

The minister estimated that, at the moment, there is a capacity to carry out 6,780 tests per day in the public sector and 4,190 in the private sector, being “evident that it depends on specific material”, namely swabs.

"We will continue to scrupulously comply with the recommendations of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control on indicated tests and testing criteria," said the minister.