"Portugal continues to increase its testing. Since 1 March, more than 274 thousand diagnostic tests have been carried out for covid-19, 70 percent of which already in April. Friday was, to date, the day that most tests have been carried out since the outbreak began in Portugal, about 14,500 processed samples", said António Lacerda Sales.

The official, who was speaking at the daily press conference to take stock of the pandemic in the country and on the day when the number of recovered cases (917) is higher than the number of deaths (762), specified that 49.5 percent of the tests were carried out in public establishments, 45.2 percent in private and 5.4 percent in other laboratories.

António Lacerda Sales stated that currently the global lethality rate due to infection with the new coronavirus is 3.6 percent and that the lethality rate above 70 years old is 12.7 percent and advanced that on 21 April serological tests have been started on users and health professionals at the Hospital Norte and Universitário de Lisboa Norte.

The objective is, said the government official, "to measure the degree of exposure to covid-19".