Portugal eases COVID-19 rules as infections soar, hospitalisations still low

Portugal will allow students to return to school from next week and nightclubs to reopen on Jan. 14 despite a record surge in COVID-19 cases, with hospital admissions still well below levels seen earlier in the pandemic, the government said on Thursday. 'It is evident that the Omicron variant is less severe ... vaccination has been effective against it,' Prime Minister Antonio Costa told a news conference, referring to the fast-spreading variant that emerged in late 2021. 'That's why we have a much lower number of hospitalisations, fewer people in ICU and deaths.'