Most Portuguese regions will enter the third phase of easing the blockade of COVID-19 next week, but stricter rules will be maintained in municipalities where transmission rates remain high, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Thursday .
“This set of measures are neither rewards nor punishments,” Antonio Costa said at a news conference. “These are public health measures for the safety of the population, of the people.”
Portugal, which imposed a closure in January to curb what was then the worst increase in COVID-19 in the world, began lifting restrictions last month and has since reopened some schools, restaurants and cafes, museums and lounges. hairdressing.
For the past two weeks, people have left home to enjoy the warmer spring weather, to see friends and family and to enjoy a meal outside after more than two months trapped at home.
Starting Monday, high schools, universities, cinemas, shopping malls and restaurant interior areas will reopen in the vast majority of mainland Portugal’s 278 municipalities, but with restrictions designed to reduce the risk of infection.
Outdoor events, weddings and christenings can also be resumed, but under capacity rules.
However, in municipalities where the limit of 120 cases per 100,000 people has been reached, the rules will be different.
Seven municipalities, including the tourist town of Albufeira, in the southern Algarve region, famous for its beaches and golf courses, but now almost deserted, will not advance to the third phase of blockade.
Taking a step back, four municipalities, such as the largest city in the western Algarve Portimao, will re-impose tougher blocking rules, such as closing cafe terraces and other non-essential businesses.
“This is really a pandemic fight that we have to do together,” Costa said. “The effort cannot be wasted until the vaccination process is effective.”
Portugal, a nation of just over 10 million, has suffered 829,358 cases and 16,933 deaths since the start of the pandemic. To date, it has administered nearly 2.3 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines.
No crisis in recent history has affected Portugal’s tourism-dependent economy so strongly, with GDP down 7.6% last year, its biggest annual drop since 1936.
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