LISBON, March 26 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese authorities upgraded on Thursday the country's COVID-19 situation to the mitigation phase, its highest alert and response level, Lusa News Agency reported.

Portugal registered 60 deaths associated with COVID-19 and 3,544 cases of infection, 549 more than the previous day, according to the daily bulletin of the Directorate-General for Health on Thursday.

The mitigation phase, the third and most severe level of response to the COVID-19 disease, is activated when there are local transmissions, in a closed environment and/or community transmission.

The mitigation phase means mobilization of the entire health system, public and private, to combat the spread of the pandemic, said Lusa.

In this phase, patients with mild symptoms stay at home, moderates go to health centers, the serious but not critical are referred to hospitals and only critical patients will be hospitalized. Health centers and hospitals will have areas dedicated to the COVID-19 disease.

To address possible needs arising from the pandemic COVID-19, a field hospital is being set up at the University Stadium in Lisbon with a capacity for 500 beds in three pavilions and an additional capacity for 100 beds on the lawns.

Early in the day, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announced reinforcement of medical equipment for Ovar Hospital.

On March 17, a day before the national state of emergency, Portuguese government declared the state of public calamity in Ovar in northern Portugal, a municipality of 148 square kilometers with around 55,400 inhabitants.

The municipality has recorded 118 confirmed cases of infection and two deaths as of Thursday.

It is expected that the municipality will see an increase in positive diagnoses in the coming days, given the growing number of tests to detect the disease.