The new period of state of emergency in Portugal, which runs until December 23, started at 00:00 today, with a total of 113 Portuguese counties at risk of extremely high or very high covid-19 transmission.
Last Saturday, the Prime Minister, António Costa, said that the Government's strategy is to maintain the scheme that is already in force until Christmas, then reducing restrictions at parties a little.
In the case of Christmas and New Year, the measures already announced will be subject to evaluation on the 18th of December, to confirm the trend of improvement in the covid-19 pandemic. SEE CURRENT DETAILS HERE.
In November, the 278 municipalities of Portugal were divided into four groups, depending on the level of risk of transmission - moderate, high (between 240 and 480 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants), very high (between 480 and 960) and extremely high (more than 960). The lists can be consulted at www.covid19estamoson.gov.pt , where it also states the restrictions for indivual municipalities.
In these two weeks starting today, until 23:59 on 23 December, there is no ban on the circulation of municipalities across the country but tighter rules are maintained for extremely high-risk territories (35 municipalities) and very high (78), including a ban on driving on public roads between 13:00 and 05:00 on weekends from 12th to 13th and from 19th to 20th December.
Currently, commercial establishments can only operate between 08:00 and 13:00. Catering businesses can work after that time, but only for 'take-away' and home deliveries.
Exceptions to closing at 1:00 pm are retail establishments selling food, as well as natural or dietary, health and hygiene establishments with a sales or service area of 200 square meters or less, with autonomous entrance and exit and independent from the public road.
On working days, in these 113 extremely high and very high municipalities residents must be home by 23:00 and commercial establishments have to close until 22:00. Restaurants, cultural facilities and sports facilities must close until 22:30 (catering establishments can operate until 01:00, but only for home deliveries).
In high-risk counties (which now stand at 92), the ban on driving on public roads continues until the 23rd December, with the respective general duty to be home between 11 pm and 5 am of all days.
Commercial establishments must close until 22:00. Restaurants, cultural facilities and sports facilities must close until 22:30 (catering establishments can operate until 01:00, but only for home deliveries).
Since eight municipalities in the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon have now moved from very high to high level (Odivelas, Oeiras, Seixal, Setúbal, Sintra, Amadora, Cascais and Vila Franca de Xira), in the next two weekends they do not have the limitations of circulation in the afternoon. The same is not true for Almada, Barreiro, Lisbon and Loures, the only territories in the metropolitan area that remain at very high risk and, therefore, with greater restrictions.
In the Metropolitan Area of Porto, nine counties went from extremely high to very high risk and the remaining eight remain at the most serious level, so, in practice, there are no changes compared to the past fortnight.
The 73 municipalities currently with a moderate level of transmission continue to have no mandatory rules, but commercial establishments cannot open before 10:00 am, with the exception of hairdressers, barbers, beauty salons, restaurants and similar, coffee shops, tea houses and the like, driving schools and technical vehicle inspection centers, as well as gyms.
In these cases, most commercial establishments close between 20:00 and 23:00. This may be fixed by the mayors of the city councils, subject to agreement from the local authority, health and security forces.
In territories of moderate risk, restaurants must close at 1:00 am (with new admissions allowed until midnight), with their capacity limited to 50%. Groups are limited to six people (unless they belong to the same household), except in establishments located within 300 meters of a school and in the food courts of shopping centers, where they are limited to four people (if not from household).
The state of emergency measures applied to Portuguese mainland have not been replicated in Madeira and the Azores, where regional executives have the autonomy to apply restrictions.
Original article available in Portuguese at http://postal.pt/
