Portugal suspends flights between the country and Brazil | World

The Portuguese Interior Ministry said that the worsening of the global pandemic and the detection of new variants justified the decision.

Only repatriation and humanitarian flights are allowed, and even in these cases, travelers will have to show a negative result from the Covid-19 test that was carried out 72 hours before departure. In addition, they will have to remain in quarantine for 14 days upon arrival in Portugal.

The Interior Ministry says that humanitarian flights allow citizens of the European Union and the Schengen Area (a group of 26 European countries, some of which are not from the European Union) to board, as long as they follow the same protocols to enter to the country.

The rules established for Brazil are the same as those already applied to flights between Portugal and the United Kingdom.

Since the start of the pandemic, Portugal, with 10 million inhabitants, has had 669,000 positive cases. Of these, almost 173 thousand are active.

In hospitals, there are more than 6,600 people hospitalized, 783 in intensive care units.

Parliament is expected to vote on a 15-day extension of the state of emergency. All containment measures must be extended.

Restrictions of other countries

On January 14, the UK banned travelers from Brazil, Portugal and 14 other countries due to a new variant of the coronavirus.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson had previously said the country was looking for ways to protect itself from the ‘Brazilian variant’ of the coronavirus.

Johnson referred to a variant found in the state of Amazonas that was recorded in travelers who passed through the region and returned to Japan.

The United States maintained a ban on travelers from Brazil after former President Donald Trump announced on January 18 that he would lift the restrictions effective January 26. On the same day, Joe Biden’s team warned that the new president would reverse the decision, which, in fact, happened.

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