"We are in a new phase of the pandemic, of the 613 new cases only 10 percent are over 70 years old, the age group where the risk of complications from Covid-19 is greatest," said António Lacerda Sales at the regular conference on infection by SARS-CoV-2, the new coronavirus that causes Covid-19 disease.

He stressed that "more than 51 percent of new infections" have been observed in people between the ages of 20 and 49, which, while on the one hand, "is good news" because it shows that it has "been possible to preserve the health of the most vulnerable", on the other hand it requires "a collective reflection on our individual behaviour".

"At a time when the mobility of most citizens is increasing, with the return from holidays and, above all, with the start of the school year, and during the week throughout the country, it is important that we all remain aware of our role in limiting the spread of the virus," argued Lacerda Sales.

In this sense, he said, "we cannot waver on this path of containment which is the only one we have at this time when Portugal will once again enter a situation of widespread contingency throughout the country".

"We have the obligation to do everything in the street, at work and as a family to ensure that our National Health Service continues to have the capacity to respond to this disease, but also to all the others," he said.

For that, health services will continue to be strengthened, he said, recalling that since March more than 4,700 health professionals have been hired to fight the pandemic.