Mask rules scrapped for public transport // Law change to open door to big gas savings
Portuguese news in English on Sunday, August 28, 2022
By the numbers
Mandatory mask use dropped for public transport
After almost 900 days, wearing a mask is no longer mandatory on Públic transport, Diário de Notícias reports. The change, which also lets people go mask-free in taxis, ride-share vehicles, pharmacies and planes, was announced this week after more than half the population had been infected with the novel coronavirus and almost 25,000 had died. It means masks are now only mandatory in hospitals and nursing homes. Based on Our World in Data figures, Portugal currently sits well above the European Union average for new infections per day and new deaths per day. It has also fared worse than the EU average for total infections per person but slightly better for total deaths.
Law change to open door to big gas savings
Domestic consumers will be able switch their gas bill back to the regulated market to avoid major predicted price hikes, Público reports. The government claimed it was the most effective help it could give to families struggling with the soaring price of gas. The change came the day after EDP Comercial, which supplies gas to almost half of the free market, announced average increases in the realm of €30 a month from October 1. The Energy Services Regulatory Authority increase of 3.9%, on the other hand, would only cost the average family with two children an extra 87 cents, Environment and Climate Change Minister Duarte Cordeiro said. While customers had been able to ditch their privatised electricity providers for the regulated market, the same had not been true of gas except in limited circumstances. Secretary of State for Energy João Galamba promised legislation would be in place before October 1. There’s a Q&A here from Dinheiro Vivo, in Portuguese.
Serra da Estrela fires provoke state of calamity
The government has declared a year-long situation of calamity in the Serra da Estrela Natural Park (PNSE), after fires ripped through the area this month, Público reports. The declaration, which had been requested by mayors of the affected areas, includes an inventory of the damages caused by August’s fires in the park, as well as all councils where bushfires have burned more than 4500 hectares or 10% of the area. Government support is expected to be delivered to all affected councils, not just those in the PNSE. A medium- and long-term plan to revitalise the park is expected to begin in September and be complete within five to 10 years, Público reports.
In brief
Angola election: Ruling MPLA party looks set to hold off Unita challenge. The governing MPLA party of President João Lourenço looks set to maintain its almost 50-year run in power. (BBC, in English)
Government ignored 60% of parliamentary proposals to improve rail network. Since António Costa became prime minister in 2015, only one recommendation has been completed and 13 remain under way. A broad range of proposals ranging from returning service to stations where trains no longer stop to track improvements have been ignored. (Público)
Hotels already selling out ahead of Pope's World Youth Day visit. It’s still a year before some 1.5 million believers head to Portugal and rooms are selling out in Fátima, Lisbon and even other regions. (Dinheiro Vivo)
On a lighter note
It could be Europe’s largest ever discovered dinosaur and it’s been found in Portugal. The BBC reports, in English, that the sauropod skeleton was found in Pombal in 2017. Palaeontologists from Portugal and Spain last month found parts of a possible brachiosaurid sauropod that could be as much as 12 metres tall and 25 metres long.