Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Wednesday that the country may be facing "one, two, three months" of restrictions on movement of people, as the number of those who have died from COVID-19 climbs over two hundred today, reaching 209, with approximately 9034 cases throughout the country so far.
Today government officials carried out a visit to the region in order to recognize the work being carried out by the Algarve Biomedical Center (ABC) to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. A protocol was also signed to formalize various actions in the elderly care homes in the region. Despite the current state of Emergency, Manuel Heitor, Minister of Science, Technology and Higher Education, Ana Mendes Godinho, Minister of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security and Jamila Madeira, Assistant Secretary of State for Health, made a point of visiting the ABC’s labs at the University of the Algarve, in Faro.
Diogo Gonçalves, a 21-year-old from Albufeira, was found dead last Thursday. The man's head was found at Pego do Inferno, in Tavira, by water by a French couple whilst hiking.
The new COVID-19 screening centre set up beside the Portimão Arena is set to open "in principle next Friday", Mayor Isilda Gomes told press. The testing centre, which is to be operated in cooperation with the Algarve Biomedical Center (ABC), similarly to the centre that is already in operation at the Algarve Stadium in Faro, will be put into operation mainly by Aqualab, a contracted company.
The Government has determined that all immigrants with pending residence permit applications with the Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) are for now to be given access to the same rights as all other citizens, including social benefits. The new measure also covers asylum-seekers.
Prime-Minister António Costa said today that, with or without a state of emergency and despite some "success in lowering the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic", it will be necessary to prolong the preventative measures that have been adopted to date.
As of this Monday, several locations throughout Portugal will be able to receive essential preventive testing kits for use on the elderly and employees, as part of a “complicated logistical operation”, the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Ana Mendes Godinho, told press today.
The airline EasyJet announced today that it is leaving its entire fleet of planes on the ground until further notice due to the collapse in demand, because of the Covid-19 pandemic. In a statement, the airline, based in London, explains that the measure "eliminates a significant cost", and indicates that it will receive help from the government to support its workers.
