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The prime minister said on Monday that a new declaration of the state of emergency “is not a scenario that is on the table” in the dialogue between São Bento and Belém.
In an interview with TVI, António Costa was asked about this possibility – which was reported in the latest edition of the weekly “Expresso” – and he replied that the “state of calamity is the appropriate level” given the current pandemic situation.
The Prime Minister defended that the National Health Service (SNS) “is better prepared [agora] than at the beginning of the crisis ”, an idea that was specified with the number of beds available for patients treated in continuous hospitalization units (ICU).
“The NHS is not under pressure yet. ICU beds, we have more than 500 beds reserved for Covid-19 patients, which can grow, without affecting scheduled activity, to 700 beds, and can still reach 900, but they already affect scheduled activity in the treatment of other non-diseases. Covid-19 ”, explained the head of government.
Despite being explicit in the removal of a new state of emergency, António Costa did not exclude any additional measures to mitigate the risk of contagion of the virus in the country when asked about the possibility of imposing a more specific confinement, such as the touch curfew.
“I cannot exclude any measure, but I must say that the social cost of these measures is immense. When we closed schools, it was critical, but it came at a learning cost. When we banned home visits, it took a brutal emotional toll, ”said the prime minister.
António Costa also approached the next Christmas and stressed that “people will have to organize themselves differently”, admitting that depriving people of moving “would be terrible.”
The government asked to remove from the agenda a diploma on mandatory ‘application’
António Costa revealed this afternoon that the Government asked the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, to remove from the agenda the parliamentary discussion on the diploma that would institute the mandatory application ‘StayAway Covid’.
Given the controversy that is generated around the idea and before the PSD’s proposal on the mandatory use of masks in the street, he prefers to give the Assembly of the Republic space to first debate the issue of the application, speeding up the legislation on the wearing masks.
“I noticed that of the two proposals we made, there was a relatively consensual one, which was the mandatory use of the mask on the street, and another that generated doubts and rejection. Today I asked the President of the Republic to remove from the agenda the diploma that would be delivered on Friday because the PSD presented a diploma only on the use of masks and therefore, if this issue is consensual, let us legislate on masks now and in The application issue is very useful for the Assembly of the Republic to hold all the hearings to reflect on this issue, ”said António Costa.
Regarding the proposal made by the StayAway Covid app, António Costa recalled a survey by the “Jornal de Notícias”, carried out in June, which concluded that “the majority of Portuguese said that the application should be mandatory. It is a debate that has been taking place in society and I thought it would be useful for the Assembly of the Republic to lead this debate ”.
Regarding the criticisms of the request, the Prime Minister defended that they are due to “ignorance of some essential data. The ‘app’ does not allow us to track our movements, there is no database where the information is deposited and anonymity is guaranteed ”, he explained.
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