The expression of the pandemic on national territory continues to be characterised by a high degree of heterogeneity. Some of the results obtained in this context:
• Since the beginning of March, the preliminary number of deaths in 2020 for the country as a whole, as measured over the last four weeks, has remained higher than in the same reference period (average for the same period in 2018 and 2019). In 179 of the 308 Portuguese municipalities, where 68% of the population lives, the number of deaths between 17 August and 13 September 2020 was higher than the corresponding reference value.
• The upward trend in the number of new cases of COVID-19 has continued since the end of August - values above 4,000 new cases since September 13 (cumulative figures for the last 7 days), reaching 4,760 new cases (corresponding to 4.6 new cases per 10,000 inhabitants) on September 23.
• Continued reduction in the territorial concentration of new cases since mid-June - the highest level of territorial dispersion in the analysed series was reached on 20 September (reference date of the latest data released by Directorate-General of Health at municipal level).
• On September 20, for every 10 thousand inhabitants, there were 4.5 new cases of COVID-19 (last 7 days). In 55 municipalities, this ratio was higher than the average, with AML's municipalities standing out, namely: Amadora (9.4), Sintra (9.0), Lisbon (8.8), Odivelas (8.1), Cascais (7.3), Loures (7.2) and Oeiras (6.9).
• In the seven days ending on 20 September, the AML represented 43% of the new cases in the country (28% of the population). The analysis focused on the last weeks suggests an increase in the number of new cases in the AML at a higher rate than in the country: in the week ending in 6 September the growth rate was +21.3% (+8.9% in the country) and in the week ending in 20 September, this rate was +31.7% (+12.6% in the country).
In addition, the analysis (see box in page 12) of the territorial expression of establishments with 50 or more persons employed, in order to assess the impact of the public policy measure on workers’ different arrival and exit times, showed that:
• Establishments with 50 or more employees had about 1.2 million people at work, which represented 30% of the total.
• The metropolitan areas of Lisboa and Porto were the sub-regions with the highest volume of persons employed in these establishments, representing 37.4% of the people employed in AML and 32.5% in AMP.
• In 12 municipalities of AMP and in eight of AML, more than ¼ of the persons employed worked in establishments with 50 or more employees.