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With the favorable vote already assured by the PSD, the parliament will approve this Friday the presidential decree with the second renewal of the state of emergency of this second phase of the pandemic.
On Thursday, the president, after having been in the morning for a new meeting with Infarmed experts, met with the different parliamentary parties. In the evening, after obtaining a favorable opinion from the government, the decree was sent to Parliament and made known by the Presidency.
The new decree of the state of emergency is exactly the same in its content as the one that Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa sent two weeks ago to the deputies and that they approved.
The only novelty is that, in this decree, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa announces that “It is foreseeable that this renewal will have to extend at least for a period until January 7, now allowing the Government to predict and announce the measures to be taken during the Christmas and New Year periods.“.
However, the decree will have to be renewed within two weeks (a legal imposition) so it will last from 00:00 on December 9, 2020 until 23:59 on December 23, 2020.
PR wants to be more informed
Being almost the same as the decree of 15 days ago, however, there is a small difference.
Now “the responsible agencies […] implement the declaration of the state of emergency must maintain permanently informed the President of the Republic and the Assembly of the Republic of the acts in which such execution consists “in the state of exception.”
In the decree of fifteen days ago it only said that “the execution of the declaration of the state of emergency is the responsibility of the Government, which of the respective acts it will maintain informed the President of the Republic and the Assembly of the Republic “.
The government will announce on Saturday the regulatory measures for the new state of emergency, measures that will already cover Christmas and New Years. And everything points to a relaxation of the confinement at Christmas, but a tightening at New Year. Apparently, the executive intends, with this relaxation of measures at Christmas, to keep public opinion on his side.
“There is a clear indication that the peak of the second wave will have doubled and that the descending phase has entered, both in the number of new infections and in terms of hospitalizations.”
This Thursday, after the meeting at Infarmed, the Prime Minister justified himself precisely with Christmas to, until then, maintain strict containment measures.
He began by saying that in the country in general, but in the northern region in particular “There is a clear indication that the peak of the second wave will have doubled and that the downward phase has entered, both in number of new infections and in terms of hospitalizations.“.
Then he added that “it is essential to consolidate this process” and, as such, “the situation cannot be alleviated”, since it is possible thatthe downward dynamics continues and the Christmas period is reached with the situation duly controlled“.
“As everyone anticipates, necessarily at the beginning of January and February, we will have greater risks, either due to temperature problems, or for Christmas, or due to the confluence with other diseases, such as the flu. Therefore, we are on the right track, but it is necessary to follow this path in order to control and consolidate this situation.“he added.
“I understand that the government can decree for Christmas a less strict situation in relation to these measures that have been implemented.”
In Belém, after being received by the PR, the PS Undersecretary General, José Luís Carneiro, admitted precisely the relaxation of the measures at Christmas – and even giving details.
“There is the prospect of making some of the measures more flexible in the period between Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas, allowing families to get together, but these meetings have to be very responsible and very limited ”, he appealed, stressing that “it is from contact that contagion is born and develops.” At that time – he said – “the most relevant” will be “allow circulation between municipalities“.
However, in New Year everything will be different. “Throughout the year, there are more pronounced risk factors. We understand that the flexibility that occurs at Christmas may be limited in the New Year.. “
Also after being listened to by the PR, the PSD leader mentioned precisely the hypothesis that the government would ease the measures at Christmas – and he agreed.
“I understand that the government may decree for Christmas a situation of less rigor in relation to these measures that have been in forcer “, he said. Because people” have been very martyred “, and,” if Christmas were too tight “, this would not be the best way to” win people over and then properly meet “the necessary restrictions.
Rio also agreed with the idea that in the New Year the measures will have to be reinforced again: “I don’t know what the government’s idea is, if it’s stricter than Christmas, if the government does it too, it’s fine“, said.
António Costa was at Infarmed in the morning for the meeting with specialists and again in the afternoon again to present the national vaccination plan against covid-19, which should begin in January.
Costa tried to curb the excesses of optimism saying that the process will have “external imponderabilities” to Portugal, being also complex internally, with the difficulties increasing the larger the universe of citizens to be vaccinated.
“Now there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but the tunnel is still very long and quite painful. Portugal will acquire 22 million vaccines, but that amount of vaccines does not arrive automatically on the first day. They arrive gradually and gradually in 2021” he explained.
“The whole operation will be easier in the first weeks when there will be few doses and when the universe of recipients is still limited. But it will be much more demanding as the doses arrive ”.
In other words: “It is necessary for the Portuguese to be aware that it is always necessary to tell the truth and, for that, it is necessary to know that this entire operation is subject to a very significant set of weightlessness. Just upstream from Portugal, why not It depends on industrial production or licensing of vaccines on our part, and if there is any delay there we will have the flexibility to readjust the calendar. “
And “the difficulties will increase as the process unfolds.” “The whole operation will be easier in the first weeks when there will be few doses and when the universe of recipients is still limited. But everything will be much more demanding as the doses arrive in reinforced quantities and the universe to be vaccinated is more extensive. “
