An independent Chinese journalist who reported the initial outbreak of the new Coronavirus in Wuhan, central China, was sentenced Monday to four years in prison by a Shanghai court, according to a Hong Kong newspaper.

The Municipal Business Support Fund of Portimão has one million euros to support companies with fiscal domicile or head office in the municipality, whose establishments suffered abrupt losses as a result of Covid-19. Applications are being taken between 13 and 21 January.

Starting today, Wednesday 23rd December, the GNR will intensify road patrols in the country until January 4, on the high traffic routes, to monitor the possible neglect of regulations by people during the festivities.

The company BioNTech, responsible with Pfizer for the world's first authorized vaccine against Covid-19, says that it is able to supply another vaccine "in six weeks" in case of virus mutation, as happened in the United Kingdom.

Following the new rules instated for people arriving in Portugal from the United Kingdom, dozens of passengers were held for several hours at Faro airport yesterday, some of them more than four hours and missing other connections, in order to take a Covid-19 test before entering Portugal.

Earlier today it was announced that a team of Portuguese scientists have created a saliva test to detect Covid-19 in just an hour.

The Algarve regional health delegate, Ana Cristina Guerreiro said yesterday that control of the Covid-19 pandemic in the Algarve region is still "not as comfortable" as would be desirable entering the festive season, asking people to take extra care in the coming weeks.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of the Republic, yesterday proposed to parliament the renewal of the state of emergency until January 7, covering Christmas and New Year's Eve, a decision that he had already pointed out earlier this month as probable.