[ad_1]
This information was sent to Lusa today by an official source from the Presidency of the Republic, who added that the tests carried out by five other state councilors also gave negative results: the former presidents of the Republic Jorge Sampaio and Aníbal Cavaco Silva, Francisco Pinto Balsemão , Leonor Beleza. and Francisco Louçã.
These tests were carried out on Sunday night after the Presidency of the Republic was informed that State Councilor António Lobo Xavier is infected with the virus that causes covid-19 and the results were known since the early morning, said the same source.
The other members of the Council of State will be examined today, the day on which the commemoration of the 110th anniversary of the Implantation of the Republic will take place in the Praça do Município, in Lisbon, starting at 10:30 am, in which the presence of higher individualities of the Portuguese State.
The Council of State met on Tuesday, at the Palácio da Cidadela, in Cascais, between 2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., with the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen as a guest. This was the first face-to-face meeting of the political consultation body of the President of the Republic in a COVID-19 pandemic period, after two meetings by videoconference.
The head of state chose the Palácio da Cidadela, in Cascais, precisely to “ensure adequate physical distance,” according to a note from the Presidency of the Republic.
The Presidency of the Republic was informed that Lobo Xavier was infected with the new coronavirus, by himself, on Sunday night, and “immediately warned everyone present” at Tuesday’s meeting in Cascais, he said. Official source Lusa de Belém.
Of the 19 members of the Council of State, only the 97-year-old essayist Eduardo Lourenço did not participate in this meeting, to which three councilors -Carlos César, Vasco Cordeiro and António Damásio- joined by videoconference, while the rest attended in person.
The Council of State is made up of the holders of the offices of President of the Assembly of the Republic, Prime Minister, President of the Constitutional Court, Defender of the People, presidents of regional governments and former Presidents of the Republic.
It also includes five citizens appointed by the Head of State, who are António Lobo Xavier, Eduardo Lourenço, Luís Marques Mendes, Leonor Beleza, António Damásio, and five elected by the Assembly of the Republic: Carlos César, Francisco Pinto Balsemão, Francisco Louçã , Rui. Rio and Domingos Abrantes.
The covid-19 pandemic has already claimed more than one million thirty thousand deaths and more than 34.9 million cases of contagion worldwide, according to a report prepared by the French agency AFP.
In Portugal, 2,005 people died from 79,151 confirmed cases of infection, according to the most recent bulletin from the Directorate General of Health.
