LISBON, July 6 (Xinhua) — The Portuguese Directorate-General of Health (DGS) announced on Tuesday that a total of 3,720,680 people have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 in Portugal, equivalent to 36 percent of the country’s resident population.

According to a report by the national health authority, the number of people with at least one dose of the vaccine against the new coronavirus reached 5,740,878, which means 56 percent of the resident population.

In all, Portugal has already received 10,994,160 doses of vaccines through supplier laboratories authorized by the European Union.

Among the age groups most exposed to the disease, 94 percent of the population aged 80 years and over have had full vaccination, while 75 percent of people aged 65 to 79 have been fully immunized.

Portugal is accelerating the pace of vaccination to respond to the rapid spread of the Delta variant.

In Portugal, 892,741 cases of infection have been recorded since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, according to the DGS.