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The Council of Ministers decided this Wednesday to raise the alert level throughout the territory, which goes from a contingency situation to a calamity situation.
With the change in the alert level come new rules, which take effect at midnight on Wednesday to control the spread of the virus.
The calamity situation also allows the Government to adopt, whenever necessary, measures that are justified to contain the pandemic, such as, for example, movement restrictions.
Municipalities on public roads
As of this Thursday, meetings on the public highway are limited to just five people.
The limitation applies to any space for public use, commercial or even for restaurants.
Family events
According to DGS, family events have had a considerable weight in the number of infections registered in national territory.
For this reason, the Government decided to limit all family events – such as weddings, baptisms, among others – to a maximum of 50 people.
Everyone must comply with the rules of physical distance, hand hygiene and individual protection, that is, the use of the mask.
Academic parties
PAULO NOVAIS / LUSA
In recent weeks, the implementation or prohibition of the praxis has been at the center of several discussions within the faculties. The University of Porto and Lisbon had already banned the practices, while the University of Coimbra decided to start activities, having suspended them yesterday.
As of this Thursday, all educational establishments, be they universities or polytechnics, are prohibited from holding academic celebrations and activities of a non-academic or scientific nature, such as reception ceremonies for first-year students and other types of celebrations that involve gatherings.
According to the Government, these types of events should be avoided so as not to repeat scenarios that have already occurred. For example in University of Aveiro, 78 students tested positive for COVID-19, most of which are related to an outbreak of Spanish Erasmus students.
Inspection actions
In this period, which runs until October 31, the security forces and the Food and Economic Security Authority (ASAE) will reinforce inspection actions.
The authorities will pay attention to compliance with the regulations presented here, both in relation to the concentration of people on public roads, and the restrictions applied to commercial and catering establishments.
Fines
Commercial and restaurant establishments that do not scrupulously ensure compliance with the regulations, which will come into force this Thursday, may be penalized with a fine.
The calamity situation was added to the fine, which can now reach up to 10,000 euros.
It is therefore important that the rules for space allocation are respected and that removal within the establishments is guaranteed.
Use of mask
It is important to clarify this point: the use of a mask is “strongly recommended” by the Government and health authorities on public roads, but not required yet.
The Government intends, in the coming days, to present to the Assembly of the Republic a bill to impose the mandatory use of masks on the street.
Armando Franca
Stayaway Covid App
As for the Stayaway Covid application, which serves to help track the contacts of the population, the situation is similar to the use of a mask on public roads.
The António Costa executive recommends communication through the application whenever there is a positive test, but its use is not, for now, mandatory.
A bill will also be presented to make the use of the application mandatory in school, professional and academic contexts, as well as in the Armed Forces, Security Forces and Public Administration.
Increased number of daily cases since the start of the pandemic
Portugal counts this Wednesday 7 more deaths related to Covid-19 and 2,072 new cases of infection by the new coronavirus, according to the epidemiological bulletin of the General Directorate of Health (DGS).
Since the start of the pandemic, Portugal has already registered 2,117 deaths and 91,193 contagion cases, with 34,583 active cases, 1,619 more than on Tuesday.
Regarding hospital admissions, the bulletin reveals that in the last 24 hours there are 41 more hospitalized people, totaling 957, of which 135 are in intensive care (3 more compared to Tuesday).
In the last 24 hours, 446 patients have been recovered, a total of 54,493 since the start of the pandemic.
Broken hospitals?
The increase in the number of Covid-19 cases in the north of the country forced Hospital S. João do Porto to activate contingency level 3, which implies the cancellation of 20 percent of scheduled surgeries. The pressure on the emergency department has been mounting at a galloping rate since last week.
The outbreak at Beja Hospital also left the health unit with only five doctors in the surgery service. The Baixo Alentejo Local Unit has six isolated surgeons, out of a total of 36 infected health professionals. The Armed Forces were summoned to reinforce the medical team at the Hospital de Beja with four general surgery doctors.
In Lisbon, the Curry Cabral hospital has more patients with Covid-19 than at the beginning of the pandemic. Loures hospital has exhausted its capacity for intensive and intermediate care with covid and non-covid patients.
This Thursday, the prime minister assured that there is no lack of control by the National Health Service and that hospitals continue to respond to treat those infected with covid-19.
Portugal can have 3000 cases daily
The Health Minister said on Wednesday that the number of new daily cases of Covid-19 in Portugal could “be close to 3,000 in the coming days,” according to mathematical calculations by the Ricardo Jorge Institute.
“There can be a growth that can be in the three thousand cases if we are not careful enough,” he said. Marta Temido, who also mentioned that these estimates do not take into account the measures that have been adopted in the meantime by the Government and the health authorities.
