[ad_1]
Continental Portugal is, since Monday, for the fourth time since the start of the covid-19 pandemic, in a state of emergency. On this occasion, the range of measures adopted did not take into account the territory as a whole, but rather the context of each municipality, having drawn up a list of municipalities where the risk of contagion is greater and where restrictions are applied.
The list had a first version on November 7 with 121 counties and was updated this Thursday. Therefore, it is necessary to clarify that the elimination of seven municipalities from the respective list was announced, with practical effects already this Friday. At the same time, The measure to add the 77 new municipalities to the high-risk list will come into effect only at 00:00 on November 16, Monday, in order to “guarantee adaptation time to the new measures.”
This means that the previous 84 municipalities will not be included, during this weekend, by these measures to combat the pandemic implemented in high-risk municipalities, which aim to limit circulation on public roads, on Saturdays and Sundays, from 13:00 and until 05:00 on the following days for the same provinces. Starting next weekend, November 21 and 22, the 77 added municipalities must comply with the aforementioned restrictions.
At the press conference, after the Council of Ministers on Thursday, António Costa made it clear that the norm “is that people really stay at home.”
In these high-risk counties, it was also determined that, during the weekend, the opening of the business will occur from 8:00 am and the closing should be at 1:00 pm. After the government verified that some companies were trying to “circumvent the rules,” that is, by changing hours, the exceptions were specifically listed to avoid misunderstandings. Shopping centers, hypermarkets and supermarkets even close from 1:00 p.m.
According to the resolution of the Council of Ministers, only ten exceptions are foreseen:
- Retail establishments for food products, as well as natural or dietary, health and hygiene products, with a sales or service area of 200 square meters or less with autonomous and independent entrance from the public highway;
- Restaurants and similar establishments, regardless of the scope of sale or provision of services, provided that their exclusive purpose is home delivery;
- Funeral and related activities;
- Medical services or other health and social support services: medical offices and clinics, dental clinics and emergency veterinary care centers;
- Service areas and service stations that integrate highways, cafeteria and restaurant activities are not allowed;
- Fuel refueling stations exclusively for the purpose of selling fuel and supplying vehicles to the public, provided within the scope of authorized trips;
- Establishments that provide services for the rental of goods vehicles without a driver (rent-a-cargo) and rental of passenger vehicles without a driver (rent-a-car);
- Establishments that provide accommodation services;
- Establishments located within airports located in mainland Portugal, after passenger security control.
Regarding opening hours, establishments that opened before 8:00 a.m. may continue to do so.
During the conference, António Costa also explained that there are no limitations on movement between municipalities, since these measures are aimed at avoiding family and social gatherings, which led to the curfew being imposed from 1:00 p.m. . .
“It was not by chance that we chose 1:00 p.m., because we precisely have in mind what all epidemiological surveys tell us: 68% of the transmissions are taking place at this time in moments of family and social interaction,” he explained. Wednesday. when talking to journalists.
Thus, during the referred period, traffic restrictions on public roads are authorized exclusively in the following situations:
- Traveling for the performance of professional or similar functions, as evidenced by a statement – issued by the employer or similar entity; issued by itself, in the case of freelancers and individual entrepreneurs; o declaration of honor, in the case of workers in the agricultural, livestock and fishing sectors;
- Visits to establishments for the sale of food and hygiene with a door to the street of up to 200 square meters;
- Traveling for health reasons, that is, to buy products in pharmacies or obtain medical care and the transport of people to whom such care must be administered;
- Displacement for emergency reception of victims of domestic violence or trafficking in human beings, children and young people at risk;
- Travel to assist vulnerable people, people with disabilities, children, parents, the elderly or dependents.
- Displacements for “other imperative family reasons”, such as the fulfillment of shared parental responsibility;
- Travel to veterinary emergencies;
- Travel necessary to exercise freedom of the press;
- Short-term pedestrian trips, to “enjoy moments in the open air”, unaccompanied or in the company of members of the same household who live together;
- Short duration pedestrian trips for pets that walk;
- For other reasons of “force majeure or imperative need, as long as it is urgent and duly justified”;
- Return home after permitted travel;
- Among the trips, “without declaration”, they are aimed at health professionals and other workers of health and social assistance institutions, civil protection agents, security forces and services, military, civilian personnel of the Armed Forces and inspectors of the Food and Economic Security Authority, heads of sovereign bodies, leaders of the social partners and political parties represented in the Assembly of the Republic, ministers of worship, personnel of diplomatic missions, consular and international organizations located in Portugal, whenever they are related with the performance of official functions.
This Friday, Portugal exceeded 200 thousand cases of contagion with the new coronavirus, since the beginning of the pandemic, and reached a new maximum of new daily cases.
Today, during the press conference, the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, recalled the new measures to stop the pandemic, in the context of the state of emergency, and stressed that it would be “irresponsible” to stop the effort to contain the virus and that she understood ”. the anguish ”of those who will have to“ slow down economic activity ”, but he appealed to citizens to scrupulously comply with the measures established by the Government, such as the“ civic duty of recollection ”.
