MAJOR UPDATE: State of emergency brings curfew from Monday // Restaurants shut from 1pm on weekends
A major coronavirus restrictions update for Portugal on Sunday, November 8, 2020.
Major changes were announced late last night, so I’m sending this newsletter today instead of the usual Monday. The next newsletter will be on Wednesday, unless there are more major developments before then.
By the numbers
Yesterday was our worst day ever for new confirmed cases and today is the second worst. The North alone has recorded 3000-4000 cases a day for the past three days and Lisbon and the Tejo Valley is hovering well above 1000. We’re seeing roughly 50 covid-19 patients die every day, with a little fewer than 60 daily hospital admissions (down slightly in the past few days) and 13 transfers to ICU (up slightly in the past few days).
Curfew starts tomorrow, kicks in from 1pm on weekends
A curfew comes into force across most of the country from Monday, requiring you to stay at home after 11pm during the week and after 1pm on weekends, Público reports. The state of emergency measures cover the same 121 council areas already under stricter restrictions to combat the pandemic and will last until at least November 23. With some exceptions, no one in the high-risk municipalities can leave home between 11pm and 5am from Monday to Friday and between 1pm and 5am on Saturdays and Sundays. Restaurants must close during those time periods but can still deliver food. Prime Minister António Costa says even with the new assistance package announced this week, he knows the new restrictions will be tough for restaurateurs, Público reports. You can still leave the house to go to or return from work, walk your dog or other pet, get medical treatment, go to the pharmacy or care for a family member. Anyone caught outside for any other reason will be taken back to their home by the authorities. For now, there are no restrictions on travel in between council areas, such as the ones we saw last weekend.
Click here for interactive version.
The state of emergency runs from Monday until November 23 and needs to be renewed every 15 days. It’s not a defined set of measures but a legal framework to allow the government to impose restrictions on things it normally couldn’t, such as the freedom of circulation. The terms of the state of emergency itself can be changed whenever it is renewed and the measures themselves, such as the curfew, can be loosened or tightened more or less at will. The council areas considered high risk due to having more than 240 new cases per 100,000 people over the previous fortnight, are reassessed every 15 days, with the next re-evaluation on Thursday. The Prime Minister previously said the state of emergency could stay in place until the end of the pandemic.
You can see a full list of the affected municipalities and the other restrictions in place within them in my newsletter from October 1.
This is the same chart on a logarithmic scale, which better represents the speed of the increase in new cases. Click here for interactive version.
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In brief
’Anguish’ and ‘fear’: restaurants against measures with sector ‘on the verge of bankruptcy’ (Diário de Notícias)
Shopping centres consider curfew a 'big blow' for sector and economy (Diário de Notícias)
People Animals Nature party (PAN) worried curfew measures are too strong (Diário de Notícias)
Private hospitals to receive 'just compensation' if requisitioned to help fight pandemic (Diário de Notícias)
On a lighter note
Sweden’s no-lockdown approach to the pandemic has been pretty controversial but there’s one thing I hope everyone can agree on: this tribute to/parody of Sweden’s chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell is a banger. The lyrics are in Swedish but I strongly recommend reading University of Washington biology professor Carl Bergstrom’s translation into English here. I will be forever grateful to him for tweeting about this bizarre ode to the “hero with a heart of gold and a clean machine-washed cup”, who is “like a combination of the Incredible Hulk and gluten-free bread” and a “master of Microsoft Minesweeper”. Enjoy!
This is a major update. Please share on Facebook, in real life or anywhere else you see people a bit confused by the latest news.