Anger as Portugal left off ‘air bridge’ list again, and Formula 1 is coming to the Algarve
Portuguese news in English on July 24, 2020.
The great start to the week has given way to a steady rise in confirmed cases up until today. The vast majority of the concern is still around Lisbon, with 81% in the Lisbon and Tejo Valley region. Even with today’s larger increase, active cases are still falling slowly almost every day. There are 52 patients in intensive care, the fewest since March.
Frustration as Portugal left off ‘air bridge’ list but Spain stays on
Portugal has been left off the UK’s updated travel corridor list, sparking pretty much the reaction you would expect. Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva said the decision was “not consistent with reality and facts” and Algarve Intermunicipal Community president António Pina said it was “incomprehensible”. Many are particularly galled that Spain, with almost 10 times as many cases per day and only four times the population, remains on the list. “It’s incomprehensible that the English government permit its citizens to go to places where they can be infected much more [easily],” Mr Pina told me. “I think it’s incomprehensible even for the English citizens. Maybe the English government, as a strategy, only opens to more dangerous places so people don’t have anywhere to go and stay at home.” Norway added Spain to its quarantine list today but didn’t remove Portugal, Lusa reports. You can read more about the air bridge saga in English at The Telegraph.
Formula 1 is coming back to Portugal
Portugal seems to be racking up major sporting events almost as quickly as it is being cut off from travel to other parts of Europe. Formula 1 is returning to Portugal for the first time in more than 20 years. It will be the first grand prix at the Algarve International Circuit in Portimao, where organisers say they’ve even figured out a way to safely host crowds, Público reports. Economist Paulo Reis Mourão, author of The Economics of Motorsports: The Case of Formula One, said the direct economic benefit of the event could reach €30 or €50 million, with another €40 or €50 million in indirect benefits, even with empty stands. Crowds would add another €20 to €30 million, he said. The world’s richest motorsport competition last visited Portugal in 1996, in Estoril.
The return of the ‘geringonça’?
Portuguese Prime Minister António Costa wants to get the gang back together, Diário de Notícias reports. That gang is the old alliance, known as the “geringonça” (something cobbled together fairly roughly) but with parties further to the left that helped the PM govern 2015 to 2019. His calls for unity came after his Socialist Party (PS) voted with the centre-right Social Democratic Party (PSD) to put an end to fortnightly parliamentary debates and seemed to be aimed partly at avoiding the image of a “central bloc” between the two parties. Mr Costa opened his State of the Nation address with a call for a “solid and lasting base of understanding” and several other appeals for unity. Rui Rio, the leader of PSD, which is the largest opposition party, called the overtures a “marriage proposal”.
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In brief
Study warns of "second outbreak of unemployment" at the end of the layoff. (Público)
PS and PSD further away from each other in the polls. PM António Costa’s PS are 13 points ahead of PSD. (Público)
To avoid contagion, emigrants must “isolate themselves” before traveling from Luxembourg to Portugal. (Público)
Spain disrupts nightlife to contain pandemic. (Diário de Notícias)
On a lighter note
This isn’t quite a “nature is healing itself” meme but it’s pretty cool. About 20 tourists on a boat back from Ilha do Corvo to Ilha das Flores in the Azores happened upon a pod of sperm whales. Maritime tourism operator Carlos Mendes shared the resulting drone footage of the seven whales playing on Instagram. He told Notícias ao Minuto there were no whale-watching licences in the area so these types of encounters could only happen by chance. “The passengers were really amazed,” he said.
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