The novel coronavirus that originated from a seafood market in China is creating chaos in all nooks of the world, and the total number of deaths has already crossed 1,60,000.
In the United States alone, COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 38,900 people. In Europe too, coronavirus has shown its vicious killing spree, as per the latest updates, the pandemic has killed 20,600 and 23,000 people in Spain and Italy respectively.
How Portugal is controlling the Coronavirus mortality rate?
As coronavirus is rampaging Europe, Portugal stands tall in the midst of the chaos, and the country has successfully controlled the mortalities associated with the COVID-19 outbreak. As of now, there are 19,687 confirmed cases in Portugal, and the number of deaths recorded in the country is just 687.
Ricardo Baptista Leite, a physician specializing in infectious disease revealed that these surprising statistics are not reflecting the country's impeccable healthcare system, but it indicates the determination and solidarity of Portuguese nationals.
"Due to the frailty of our health system, it could potentially have been worse here than in Italy or Spain. The Portuguese people understood very clearly that if we want to survive this, we would have to do even more than the others in crushing the curve, in prolonging and pushing forward the number of new cases. The country has shown tremendous solidarity," Baptista Leite told POLITICO.
Portugal's healthcare system
It should be noted that the healthcare system which is prevalent in Portugal is not that great when compared to other countries in the European Union. The country has the third-highest population of people above 80 years, behind Italy and Greece. Portugal has only 4.2 beds per 100,000, the lowest number out of the EU member states.
As per medical experts, it was the early lockdown the authorities imposed on March 18 that helped the country to control mortality rates associated with coronavirus effectively.
Recently, Prime Minister António Costa had also thanked Portuguese citizens for showing solidarity at the time of the deadly COVID-19 outbreak. "From the beginning of this crisis, the Portuguese have understood that staying at home is the best way they can support our health workers on the frontlines. We should celebrate the enormous self-discipline people have shown," said Costa.
