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The Council of Ministers took a further step to try to control the evolution of the pandemic, approving the prohibition of circulation between municipalities, throughout the country, from October 30 to November 3 (thus covering the holiday of 1, All Day the Saints ).
The purpose of the restriction, as the Minister of State and Presidency explained on Thursday, is precisely to prevent “families from uniting, in an activity full of emotion”, and thus stop possible infections. Symbolically, and to “mark the moment”, November 2 will be declared a national day of mourning, in honor of the fatal victims of the pandemic.
Three counties in semi-confinement
At the end of the government meeting, more specific restrictive measures were also announced, which will be applied to municipalities that are seeing a significant increase in the number of cases as of midnight this Friday. This is the case of Felgueiras, Lousada and Paços de Ferreira, whose inhabitants will have the duty to stay at home (with some exceptions, such as going to work or going to school) and in compulsory teleworking, in functions where possible.
Even in these three municipalities in the north of the country, any event with more than five people is prohibited. All establishments will close at 10pm. In addition, home visits and the operation of day centers will be suspended, as well as fairs and markets, a semi-Christ situation similar to that which has already been applied in 19 parishes of Greater Lisbon where there was a greater evolution of infections. , during the summer.
The decision was made this Thursday in the Council of Ministers, just eight days after the return to the State of Calamity was announced, a legal instrument that empowers the Government to impose emergency measures, in some cases without going through Parliament. Asked about the possibility of new measures, the Minister of the Presidency said that next week the Government would evaluate “if the state of calamity is sufficient or if within the state of calamity we will have to take other measures.” On the executive side, the state of emergency is not yet on the table.
Mariana Vieira da Silva said that, taking into account the expected deterioration, the Government will take the necessary local measures.
Although the most restrictive measures apply only to three municipalities, the minister insisted on leaving a warning: “spirit” and “logic” are the same that all Portuguese must apply in their daily lives, making an effort to “choose essential activities” and limit travel and social life according to this criterion.
On Wednesday, the Prime Minister had already warned that the government was considering what additional measures should be taken. After meeting with the mayors of Paços de Ferreira, Lousada and Felgueiras, three of the municipalities in the Porto district with the highest increase in cases of new COVID-19 infections, António Costa dismissed the scenario of imposing sanitary fences. but he stressed that there is a “consensus among all” on the strategy to adopt to stop the outbreak, even without specifying the measures to be implemented locally.
António Costa assured that the measures would be announced very soon: “Now I will speak with my colleagues in the government so that the measures are formalized,” stressed the head of government, admitting that it is necessary “to act as soon as possible to contain the spread.”
Minister says there is still responsiveness on the NHS
Still in the Council of Ministers, the exemption of moderate rates was approved for all tests and treatments (complementary means of diagnosis and treatment, said Marta Temido) that are prescribed in primary health care and carried out in any system, whether public. or private. This was a measure that emerged from the negotiation of the budget for this year, but will not come into effect until 2021, said the Minister of Health.
On the current capacity of the SNS, and at a time when it is the target of several criticisms for not involving individuals in the response – Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in fact, will call six former ministers to Belém to hear them about the fight against the pandemic -, the Minister of Health assumed that “the number of cases will continue to increase in the coming days” but explained that there are 798 beds for intensive care in NHS hospitals and that currently 200 are occupied by patients with Covid-19. This means, he stressed, that “there is still capacity” to respond, but without closing the door to individuals: “The health system not only has the SNS and can use other sectors”, if necessary.
For now, the Government also announces that it authorized DGS to buy, in 2020 and 2021, the drug remdesivir, “indicated for the treatment of the disease in adult and adolescent patients with pneumonia who require supplemental oxygen, authorized in the European Union for COVID “. -19 “, as can be read in the statement regarding the meeting. The acquisition will be carried out through a specific contract that will be signed within the framework of the joint acquisition framework contract signed between the European Commission and the pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences”, with the in order to guarantee the maintenance of the “national stock” of this medicine.
