Portugal still does not have a set date in sight for the end of social isolation. Prime-minister António Costa admitted to press this week that restrictions will be lifted throughout the country at “multiple speeds”, meaning that the lifting of restrictions will be made according to the characteristics of each region and the age distribution of the population, with the hypothesis of keeping the elderly isolated until the end of the year. But unlike Von der Leyen - who advised against even thinking about booking for summer holidays - Costa has asked the Portuguese to look ahead for hope, and to make plans “inside” the country for their vacation.

The President of the Republic today considered that, if the containment of the spread of COVID-19 in April proceeds as expected, May may be a "month of transition" to a "progressive resumption of social and economic life".

More preparation time and people obediently obeying confinement measures has helped Portugal manage its coronavirus outbreak, it's been claimed. Is this why Portugal has vastly different COVID-19 infection and death rates compared to neighbouring Spain, one of the worst hit countries?

The idea was to appease criticisms from the North of the country by giving them a larger number of ventilators, but this removal of equipment from the south of the country has had the effect of causing just as much criticism, and in large numbers, from the Algarve, namely from the PSD party.

There are almost 200 deaths registered in nursing homes or similar institutions since the beginning of the pandemic in Portugal - which makes up about one third of the total number of deaths. The Director-General of Health, Graça Freitas, underlined this fact and left criticisms to institutions that are not complying with the essential “two rules”: banning visits and isolating new users for 14 days.

The Minister of Health announced this morning, during a press conference aimed at epidemiological assessment, that after having analysed several opinions issued by Portuguese health entities, she decided that the use of surgical masks should be extended to the entire community, but only in situations where they need it, such as when frequenting enclosed spaces, namely supermarkets, pharmacies, public transport, etc.

Since the beginning of the epicentre, Albufeira has been one of the hubs of COVID-19 spread in the region. So far it is the only municipality in the Algarve where the transmission of the new virus may be circulating in the community, meaning that authorities are unable to identify the transmission chains.

Nine more Iberian lynx kittens have born in the Algarve in the past 72 hours. The new litters of the lynxes Fresa, Juncia and Juromenha came to join the two that had been born last week and increase to 11 the total number of lynx kittens born so far in 2020 at the National Centre for Reproduction of the Iberian Lynx (CNRLI), in Silves.