Government prepares 'wide-scale' intervention in TAP, and summer bookings rise in the Algarve and Alentejo
English language coronavirus news in Portugal on April 29, 2020.
By the numbers
It’s another good day for the stats, with another very small increase in confirmed cases. In terms of both raw numbers and percentage, it’s the second smallest we’ve seen this month. It’s also the third day in a row with a rise of less than 300, so hopefully a trend is starting to emerge there. Another 25 COVID-19 patients have passed away, which is on the lower end of what we’ve been seeing but still in that 20-35 range we seem to be stuck in.
Government prepares ‘wide-scale’ intervention in TAP
Portugal’s national airline can’t “survive without public intervention”, says Infrastructure Minister Pedro Nuno Santos. He spoke at the parliamentary hearing of the Commission of Economy and Public Works this morning, as reported by Público. Nuno Santos said the government was studying various interventions to ensure TAP not only survived but could also continue to serve the country. This would imply a “wide-scale” intervention, he said.
Association working out new gym guidelines
The country’s gyms are searching for a safe way to reopen amid “very significant financial difficulties”. The Gym and Gymnasium Association of Portugal (Associação de Ginásios e Academias de Portugal - AGAP) has proposed a series of measures to allow club members to return, including limits on machines and workout times, Público reports. The association, which represents about 1100 of the 1300 gyms and gymnasiums in the country, wrote to the Secretary of State for Youth and Sport on April 16 with a range of suggestions. It proposed closing the showers, using only half the available machines, allowing only one person per four square metres of floor space, hour-long workout limits and a 15-minute break between group classes to sanitise the room. The Directorate-General of Health is yet to make any recommendations about reopening the facilities. AGAP warned keeping clubs shut beyond May would mean many would close for good.
Summer bookings on the rise in the Algarve and Alentejo
We’ve spoken before about how important tourism is to Portugal, the huge effect the pandemic is likely to have on the industry and how that may damage the economy as a whole. Well, a dim light has emerged at the end of a very long tunnel. The Alentejo and Algarve tourism boards have both reported an increase in bookings for summer, mostly from Portuguese people but also some international tourists, Diário de Notícias reports. Tourism Alentejo and Ribatejo president António Ceia da Silva called it a “significant increase” but Algarve Tourism Region president João Fernandes was more cautious, saying it was a “light increase”. Fernandes described the bookings as a “signal of hope” but said it wouldn’t be “anything like a normal year”.
Photo: Jorge Branco
In brief
Público alerted me to this handy New York Times explainer on how to stop your mask fogging up your glasses
“"Abrupt reductions" in business and consumer confidence in April, falling to levels not seen since 2013 and 2014
Some parents won't let their kids return to school if they reopen, fearing they could become carriers
Trips to the emergency room for domestic accidents have halved and criminality has been cut in half too
On a lighter note
Anyone who’s ever tried to bolster their Portuguese-learning efforts with a little TV knows the pain of searching through Netflix. There are a few Brazilian shows (some are pretty good) but nothing from Portugal unless you want to dubbed versions of your old childhood favourites. Well, the streamer might be on the way to improving that situation through a competition starting tomorrow. The 10 best scripts will win prizes but Netflix hasn’t committed to producing any of them, Público reports. Streamers like Netflix and Amazon have until September 19 to hit a 30% quota for European content, according to Variety, but that doesn’t necessarily force them to make shows in the continent’s smaller countries.