Next reopening stage brought forward to tomorrow // Seven councils left behind // New vaccine approved
Portuguese news in English on Friday, April 30, 2021.
By the numbers
No COVID-19 deaths today. God that feels good to write. Not only that, today is the second time this week the country has gone 24 hours without recording a COVID-19 death. Incredibly, it’s only the third day without deaths since March last year and highlights how big of an improvement we’ve seen, down to an average of two or three deaths a day from hundreds earlier in the year. Case numbers have been dropping slowly but steadily for about a week and there have been fewer than 100 COVID-19 patients in intensive care since April 23. Some of those improvements are likely the result of the vaccines, of which more than 3 million doses have now been administered.
Next reopening stage brought forward to tomorrow
The next stage of reopening has been brought forward by two days, Público reports. That means from tomorrow, restaurants and cafes in the majority of the country can open until 10.30pm on weekends, gyms can welcome back group classes and the land border with Spain will reopen. Not only that, but after 173 days in a state of emergency, Portugal returns to merely a state of calamity, which sounds much worse but actually gives the government fewer emergency powers. Other changes include increased capacity (50%) for weddings and baptisms and a 9pm closing time for all shops and shopping centres (except for the essential ones that have always been exempt) during the week and 7pm on weekends. Working from home though, remains mandatory until at least May 16, when we hopefully enter the next phase of reopening, the measures for which are yet to be defined. The duty to stay home is also officially over but there’s still no news on when nightclubs and bars can reopen. And arrivals from India will face mandatory quarantine due to the country’s devastating COVID-19 surge.
The unlucky seven councils left behind
Of continental Portugal’s 278 council areas, seven miss out on the next stage of reopening for now, Público reports. Portimão, in the Algarve, remains in the first stage of reopening (measures from March 15) and two parishes (freguesias) in the Altentejo council of Odemira have been locked down behind sanitary cordons, Público reports. With only a few restrictions such as “necessary and urgent” trips, residents of São Teotónio and Longueira-Almograve can’t leave their houses or parishes. And the government has requisitioned a four-star eco hotel to use for quarantining people. Odemira is facing a “particularly serious situation”, with more than 560 cases per 100,000 people per fortnight, more than eight times the national average. The municipality hosts a lot of seasonal workers living in crowded conditions the government says is not only a risk to public health but a “blatant violation of human rights”. Miranda do Douro, Paredes e Valongo, all in the North, will stay in the current phase, while Aljezur (Algarve), Resende (North) and Carregal do Sal (Centre) will all remain in the second phase, with measures dating back to April 5. Another 27 councils, including Lagos, Peniche and Vila Real de Santo António, are on alert for high case numbers, and will be reevaluated in a week’s time.
New vaccine approved
The government has asked experts to help prepare a new plan and rules for reopening based on an improving vaccine rollout, Público reports. The rollout plan predicts the over-60s will be vaccinated by May 23 and the Prime Minister wants new data on the risks of reopening by the end of May. Portugal’s vaccination rollout got another boost on Friday with the approval of the single-shot Johnson & Johnson for those over 50, Diária de Notícias reports, similarly to what was decided for the AstraZeneca jab. It’s recommended younger people receive the Pfizer vaccine because of concerns about extremely rare blood clots possibly linked to the other two. Multiple health authorities have consistently reiterated that the risk of death or serious illness from COVID-19 (and even the specific risk of blood clots) is much higher than the risk from either the J&J or AstraZeneca jabs.
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In brief
Portugal ‘hoping to welcome British holidaymakers from mid-May’. Ambassador to the UK Manuel Lubo Antunes said Portugal wanted to remove border restrictions for UK travellers “as soon as possible”. (Evening Standard, in English)
People under 60 can get second AstraZeneca dose, health directorate says. (Lusa)
Two-thirds of Portuguese people don’t trust courts and judges. The survey comes after the controversial decision to drop corruption charges against former PM José Sócrates. (Diário de Notícias)
On a lighter note
Apologies in advance to anyone for whom the idea of dangling 175 metres above a fast-flowing river is less of a lighter note to end on and more of a nightmare. The world’s longest pedestrian bridge (which I wrote about here way back at the start of the pandemic) has opened in Portugal. The 516-metre, €2.3 million crossing took about two years to build and is designed to get people visiting Arouca, about 40 kilometres south-east of Porto. "It is a breath of fresh air for our land because it will attract more investment, more people," tour guide Emanuel told Reuters, in English.
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