Portugal sees first drop in active COVID-19 cases since mid-August

LISBON - Portugal registered 39,625 active COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, which represented a drop of 71 cases compared with Monday's. It is the first time for this indicator to see a decline since mid-August.

According to the Directorate-General for Health (DGS), the European country recorded 1,932 recoveries in the last 24 hours, bringing down the number of active infections for the first time since Aug 15. The new infections over the past 24 hours reached 1,876, taking the total of confirmed cases to 103,736 since the beginning of the pandemic.

COVID-19 caused 15 more deaths in Portugal over the past 24 hours, raising the death tally to 2,213.

There are now 63 more hospitalized patients compared with the previous day, boosting the total to 1,237 people, of which 176 are in intensive care units, 11 more than Monday's.

As the world is struggling to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, countries including Germany, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States are racing to find a vaccine.