Almost half of the deaths were in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region (88 deaths).

On Monday the health authorities reported a total of 167 deaths in 24 hours.

The DGS epidemiological bulletin also reveals that 5,291 people were admitted, 126 more than on Monday, 670 of them in intensive care units, i.e. six more, two figures which are new highs.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Portugal has registered 9,246 deaths associated with Covid-19 and 566,958 infections by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and 135,841 cases are now active, 45 fewer than on Monday.

Since 29 December there has been no reduction in the number of active cases, on which day Portugal had 65,457 active cases.

Health authorities have 174,355 contacts under surveillance, 8,120 more than the previous day.

The bulletin also reveals that a further 10,282 people were reported as recovered.

Since the beginning of the pandemic in Portugal in March, 421,871 people have recovered.

Of the 218 deaths registered in the last 24 hours, 88 occurred in Lisbon and Tagus Valley, 51 in the North region, 55 in the Centre region, 17 in Alentejo, five in the Algarve region and two in the Autonomous Region of Madeira.

In the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region, 5,012 new infections have been reported, with 191,718 cases and 3,332 deaths so far.

Lisbon and the Tagus Valley accounts for 47 percent of national infections and 40 percent of deaths in the last 24 hours.

The northern region has registered a further 2,970 new SARS-CoV-2 infections in the last 24 hours and, since the beginning of the pandemic, has registered 261,287 cases of infection and 3,811 deaths.

In the Centre region there have been a further 1,605 cases, with 76,173 infections and 1,495 deaths.

In Alentejo, a further 531 cases were reported, totalling 18,989 infections and 431 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic in Portugal.

The Algarve region has today reported a further 198 cases, totalling 12,897 infections and 127 deaths.

Madeira has registered 100 new cases. This autonomous region accounts for 2,844 infections and 28 deaths due to Covid-19.

In the Autonomous Region of the Azores 39 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours, totalling 3,050 infections and 22 deaths.

The confirmed cases are spread over all age groups, with the highest number of infections recorded being between 20 and 59 years old.

The new coronavirus has already infected at least 255,226 men and 311,550 women in Portugal, according to DGS data, 182 cases of unknown sex are under investigation, as these data are not provided automatically.

Of the total number of fatalities, 4,807 were men and 4,439 women.

The highest number of deaths continues to be concentrated in the elderly over the age of 80, followed by the 70-79 age group.

Of the total of 9,246 deaths related to Covid-19, 6,233 affected people aged over 80, 1,883 were aged between 70 and 79 and 773 were aged between 60 and 69.

The pandemic caused at least 2,041,289 deaths from over 95.4 million cases of infection worldwide, according to a review by the French agency AFP.