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“Close all!” This is how the Prime Minister announced the decision to tighten the measures for the next two weekends and that force commerce in general, with rare exceptions, to close from 1:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m. the next morning, Saturday and Sunday. , when it was expected to continue operating, except for restaurants and cafes.
António Costa explained the decision in a simple way: people were focusing more on exceptions to the state of emergency than on compliance with the rules. And he even pointed the finger at some trade and business associations that appealed to the “scoop” of the enacted measures. This was a day in which the Jerónimo Martins group ended up reversing the decision it had made to open the Pingo Doce spaces at 6.30 on the weekend, after several mayors prohibited this possibility.
“I hope there is no room for any kind of mistake,” he said.
The exceptions are pharmacies, clinics and offices, food outlets of up to 200m2, door to street and gasoline pumps., according to the government leader. Costa stressed that “the stores will have all the morning of Saturday and Sunday to work.” He admitted that restaurants, which can only have takeout service until 1 p.m. and delivery after that time, are the most difficult. to adapt.
“I hope there is no room for any kind of misunderstandings”
It is in this sense that the extraordinary Council of Ministers, meeting in the Palácio da Ajuda for more than four hours, approved support for the loss of income in the sector. For the restoration there will be a compensation of 20% of the loss of income in the two weekends, compared to the average of the last 44 weekends, which will be verified through the electronic invoice. Compensation that may be required from the 25th.
António Costa did the me blame for the misunderstanding of the measures and that forced to tighten the mesh during the weekend.
77 municipalities more at risk
In the reevaluation of the number of municipalities with the highest risk of infection, they went from 121 to 191, with eight from the previous list. – Moimenta da Beira, Tabuaço, São João da Pesqueira, Mesão Frio, Pinhel, Tondela and Batalha, – and 77 new ones entered the updated list. But not everyone runs the same epidemiological risk.
The criteria defined by the Government to enter this list is the occurrence of at least 240 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days. But there are also municipalities covered because they are surrounded by others that have exceeded the established threshold. On the contrary, there may be municipalities with a lower population density that exceed 240 cases per 100,000 inhabitants due to localized outbreaks, for example in homes for the elderly, which can be excluded from the list.
António Costa admits differentiation of measures in the 191 affected counties:
“In the next Council of Ministers we will evaluate the prolongation of the state of emergency, if that is the will of the President of the Republic. We believe that a differentiation in the measures of these 191 counties will be justified, because the reality is very different, because there are counties that 240 cases per day per 100 thousand inhabitants spend a short time and there is another that has more than 3000 cases per day per 100 thousand inhabitants, ”said António Costa.
“The situation is serious”, reiterated the Prime Minister, who admitted that the conditions lead to the prospect of extending the state of emergency to the President of the Republic. “It is to stay at home. The exceptions have been eliminated. It is impossible not to think about prolonging the state of emergency. This time the measures will be less intense but longer.” And he again appealed to the Portuguese, who are tired, to think about the exhaustion of health professionals and the effort of the NHS.
“It is to stay at home. The exceptions have been eliminated. It is impossible not to think about prolonging the state of emergency.”
As for the celebration of Christmas, which the government has always said it wants to preserve, Costa insisted that “we do not want to affect Christmas, but families must be prepared not to join. 68% of infections occur in social life”.
