Portugal will give vouchers to tourists forced to cancel their holiday plans in Portugal because of the COVID-19 pandemic, allowing them to reschedule trips until the end of 2021, the secretary of state for tourism said on Thursday. The new scheme comes into effect on Friday and applies to bookings through travel agencies or at accredited holiday accommodation, such as hotels or Airbnb properties, initially scheduled to take place between March 13 and Sept. 30 this year.

The Prime Minister admitted on Thursday the possibility that the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) may seek to gain access to Portuguese mobile phones to warn them that whenever they have entered close contact with someone infected with COVID-19. A process that, moving forward, would be done without having access to citizen identification.

There are no tourists occupying any of the Algarve’s big resorts as of right now. The home page of popular resort Vila Gale sends a very clear message, with the company’s website urging visitors to #STAYHOME.

Euro zone government debt will surge this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but while another debt crisis is unlikely, large differences in indebtedness as countries emerge from the downturn could seriously test their unity. The International Monetary Fund expects debt in the 19 countries sharing the euro to jump by more than 13% of GDP to 97% this year as Europe-wide lockdowns cause an unprecedented 7.5% euro zone recession. But despite massive expected borrowing, the effect on yields has so far been small.

This year beaches will be given a maximum capacity, controlled straight away in the car parks, whenever possible. The common advice given to attend beaches with a lifeguard presence, which has been usual in previous years, has been taken to the next level this year as bans will also be enforced on beaches without some sort surveillance or capacity regulation.

Portugal’s biggest banks have suspended repayments on loans worth about 19 billion euros for six months to help those hit by the COVID-19 crisis and a further extension could prevent a jump in bad loans, chief executives said.

Unemployment in Portugal rose almost 9% in March from the previous month, official data showed, as lockdown measures to combat the spread of the coronavirus pandemic brought key economic sectors to a halt.

Portugal may make face mask use compulsory on public transport and impose beach restrictions during the summer months as part of a plan to ease out of the restrictions of the COVID-19 lockdown. In an interview in Saturday’s Expresso newspaper, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said he hopes to relax restrictions on schools, shops, restaurants and cultural spaces from May onwards but such a plan would require new rules to keep people safe.