Portugal is the country with the highest amount of cases per population, last week's figures show

Portugal becomes the country with the highest number of COVID-19 cases in proportion to its population.

Reports of overrun hospitals, doctors contracting the virus and queuing ambulances are a stark contrast of Portugal's handling of the coronavirus pandemic last year.

While lockdown measures were swiftly introduced at the beginning of the pandemic, it is thought that recent guidelines from Portuguese authorities have been more confusing.

This comes after last week's record-high death tolls, with the weekend recording 15,000 new cases on Saturday alone.

Portugal now joins its neighbour, Spain, as well as the rest of the world recording high case numbers amid the second wave of coronavirus and the introduction of new, more contagious variants.

But it is thought that a mixture of pandemic fatigue resulting in the public respecting the rules less and less, pressures on the 20% living in poverty, a lack of psychological support services and a lowering of Portugal's guard due to their initial success last year, have contributed to the sharp rise of cases.