Minister Sílvia Lutucuta, also a spokeswoman for the inter-sectoral commission to prevent and combat covid-19, said that he is a 44-year-old man from Lisbon, on a TAAG flight on 19 March.
"We opted for home quarantine by means of a commitment term and filling out a health form", added the minister, adding that information was given on conditions to be observed that provided for the isolation of the man at home.
However, some of the passengers did not provide correct telephone numbers and addresses and it was only possible to contact the traveler through the Integrated Public Security Center who managed to reach a direct family member.
The passenger will have made a "recent attempt to start work", which led the employer to request the test, being the citizen included in a group that was being tracked, having received the positive result on Saturday.
Public health teams were then launched and an epidemiological surveillance team was launched to rescue the patient and his direct and indirect contacts, who were isolated in institutional quarantine, the minister said.
16 contacts of this passenger were identified, of which eight direct and eight occasional, according to Silvia Lutucuta.
The minister pointed out that the isolation measures at home also aimed at cutting the transmission chain "and must be complied with" as it is a "serious illness".
According to Sílvia Lutucuta, cases can remain active with medication for at least 23 days, and this case is still considered imported.
Of the 26 cases identified so far, there have been two deaths, six recovered and 18 are active.
There are 712 people in institutional quarantine, 2216 samples were collected, of which 1823 had negative results, and another 367 were being processed.
The minister also announced that during the next week the capacity for processing analyzes will be accelerated, estimating a capacity to process between 300 to 400 samples per day.
