According to a bulletin on the epidemiological situation in Portugal, released by the Directorate-General for Health (DGS), the number of suspected cases is today 147. In Wednesday's bulletin, the suspected cases were 117 [an increase of 16 cases compared to Tuesday].

In the bulletin, DGS says that of the nine cases five are imported (Italy and Spain) and that the remaining four are cases linked to imported cases.

Five of the patients are hospitalized in Porto, one in Coimbra and three in Lisbon. Of the total there are eight men and one woman, all between 30 and 69 years old.

According to DGS, there are 213 contacts under surveillance by health authorities.

The new coronavirus that causes Covid-19 first appeared at the end of last year in Wuhan, China, and can cause respiratory infections like pneumonia.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the Covid-19 outbreak as an international public health emergency and increased the risk to “very high”.