MAJOR UPDATE: State of calamity imposed from midnight // Gatherings limited to five people // Prime Minister appeals for masks in public
Portuguese news in English on October 14, 2020.
By the numbers
You don’t need me to tell you that more than 2000 cases in a day is bad news. The north is again the worst hit but 802 is the most cases recorded in Lisbon in a day and I don’t think I’ve seen so many in the Centre region before either.
Graphic translation: Active, recovered, deaths, contacts under surveillance, confirmed, hospitalised, in ICU.
State of calamity imposed from midnight
Portugal will return to a state of calamity from tomorrow, meaning tightened restrictions on gatherings and possibly travel, Público reports. Public gatherings of more than five people will be banned and Prime Minister António Costa is appealing for everyone to wear a mask whenever they leave the house and download the StayAway Covid application. He wants the Assembly of the Republic to pass laws tonight to make masks mandatory in public and the app mandatory in schools and workplaces. Fines will be increased to €10,000 for collectives or organisations not following the rules and there’ll be more patrolling of shops, restaurants and public spaces in general.
Baptisms, marriages and other similar family events will be limited to 50 people. The state of calamity also allows the government to limit movement between regions but there’s no news on that front yet. Making the declaration after a Council of Ministers meeting on Wednesday, Mr Costa said daily case numbers had been rising across Europe and Portugal was no exception. He said the evolution of the pandemic in Portugal could be classified as serious but stressed the National Health System (SNS) still had capacity to respond. However, control of the pandemic depended on individuals and residents could not wait for the SNS to solve the problem. The Prime Minister said Portugal would not shut the border with Spain.
There’ll likely be more specific details released later today so I’ll update you on those either tomorrow or Friday depending on how big the changes are.
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