Portugal urged to seek international help as COVID-19 deaths hit record

FILE PHOTO: A health worker gestures next to ambulances carrying patients with the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outside the Santa Maria Hospital, as the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak continues, in Lisbon, Portugal, January 22, 2021. REUTERS/Pedro Nunes/File Photo

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's government was urged to transfer COVID-19 patients abroad on Tuesday as deaths hit a record high and the oxygen supply system of a large hospital near Lisbon partly failed from overuse.

COVID-19 fatalities in the past 24 hours reached a record 291, bringing the total to 653,878 cases and 11,012 deaths. It now has world's the highest seven-day average of cases and deaths per million people, according to ourworldindata.org.