The COVID-19 figures for this week show that a worsening of the pandemic situation in Portugal may be on the horizon. The Government guarantees that it is keeping an eye on the epidemiological situation, and that it is for this reason that it has already decided that there will be an increase in the country's state of alertness up to the state of contingency, as of September 15th. The goal is to take new measures and “prepare for autumn/winter”, when numbers are expected to increase.

The Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) is sending border control reinforcements to the Algarve’s Faro airport next week, as authorities struggle to cope with a surge in arrivals of British tourists after quarantine rules were lifted last week thanks to the air bridge.

This week the regional conference on the epidemiological situation in the Algarve described the outlook for the region as "controlled". Within the past 24 hours, just 10 new people were reported as having positive COVID-19 tests, and the number of recoveries also increased, with three new recorded patients overcoming the virus.

Stricter measures to curb the coronavirus outbreak are set to be introduced across Portugal from mid-September as students return to schools and many workers go back to the office, the government said this Thursday.

Prime Minister Antonio Costa has sought to calm tensions with the country's doctors after sparking anger with controversial comments this week.

After four days of a consecutive increase, the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) confirmed this Thursday 399 new cases of Covid-19 in Portugal. The number is the highest daily jump since July 10, when 402 infections were announced. This means that there have now been 56,673 cases of the novel coronavirus in Portugal.

The Stayaway Covid phone application, which will allow for the tracking of virus infection through monitoring of physical proximity between devices, should be available from next week, said the Cabinet Affairs minister, Mariana Vieira da Silva, this Thursday.

In the last four days there has been a massive 723% increase in hotel reservations throughout Portugal – according to On The Beach, one of the largest British beach holiday operators. This is a marked boost to the tourism sector, compared to the days leading up to the UK’s decision to include Portugal in its air bridge list.