LISBON – Dr. Nuno Germano had a nagging fear when Portugal’s January surge of COVID-19 cases threatened to overwhelm the public health system, forcing his intensive care unit at Lisbon’s Curry Cabral Hospital to double its number of beds in a week. “I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to care for the patients,” he says.
After Portugal figured for about two weeks last month as the world’s worst-hit country by size of population, anxiety over the recent pandemic peak has eased slightly.
The number of COVID-19 patients in hospital and in intensive care fell Thursday for the third straight day. The health ministry reported the fewest hospitalizations since Jan.