Lisbon, Jul 28 (IANS): People not immunised or having received only one dose of vaccine constitute 98 per cent of patients hospitalised with Covid-19 in Portugal, the Portuguese General Directorate of Health (DGS) reported on Tuesday.

The reduction in the risk of hospitalisation was obvious among patients who were fully vaccinated, and immunization "reduces by up to three times the risk of death" of the coronavirus, according to Andre Peralta Santos, an expert from the DGS, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Most of the patients hospitalised at this moment in Portugal are over 60 years old, but a significant number of hospitalised people are aged 20-39.

"Where the vaccine advances, the virus retreats," and vaccination "is the key in the lives of Portuguese people," Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said.

He celebrated the fact that the rate of people who do not want to be vaccinated in Portugal is low, and encouraged undecided people to look at the scientific data and change their position.

The Portuguese Council of Ministers will meet on Thursday to decide whether to ease the current restrictions in force in the country, after hearing experts' guidance at the meeting.

A bulletin released on Tuesday by the DGS said 52 per cent of the Portuguese population had been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.