Politicians consider next steps for state of calamity, and family of black man shot dead say killing was racist
Portuguese news in English on July 27, 2020.
We had fewer new confirmed cases over the past couple of days than last weekend, with exactly the same low number today as last Monday. Only one patient died yesterday and four on Sunday. The number of active cases continues to drop significantly almost every day as recoveries outweigh new confirmed cases. The percentage of new cases hailing from the Lisbon and Tejo Valley region remained about 75% across the weekend.
Politicians analyse state of calamity in parts of greater Lisbon
The government and the mayors of greater Lisbon’s five worst-affected councils are meeting today to analyse a potential end to the state of calamity, Diário de Notícias reports. Nineteen parishes (freguesias) from the councils of Loures, Amadora, Odivelas, Lisbon and Sintra remain in a state of calamity due to the number of infections there and restrictions on gatherings and opening hours for commerce remain in the entire Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML). Several mayors have been speaking positively about the situation ahead of a meeting of the Council of Ministers on Thursday to discuss the next steps. Lisbon City Council mayor Fernando Medina (who’s responsible just for inner Lisbon, not the whole metro area) said the situation had generally been evolving positively throughout the AML and in several parishes. If that continued for the next few days, the state of calamity would probably be lifted from at least some parishes, he said. Loures mayor said the conditions were right to take his parishes (Camarate, Unhos e Apelação and Sacavém e Prior Velho) out of the state of calamity. But Health Minister Marta Temido was quick to lower expectations. She said a decision could only be made with all the data available at the time of the meeting of the Council of Ministers and that the country couldn’t “let down its guard” until a vaccine was ready.
The blue line is cases confirmed DAILY and the other line is the TOTAL number of deaths, hence why it keeps climbing. Click here for an interactive version.
Family of black man shot dead say killing was racist
A 76-year-old man accused of shooting dead a black man in the middle of the greater Lisbon suburb of Moscavide in broad daylight will remain in custody, Público reports. The family of Bruno Candé Marques, who was shot four times at close range on Avenida de Moscavide, in Loures on Saturday said the alleged murder was racially motivated. They said the accused killer had threatened to kill the 39-year-old actor three days earlier while uttering “various racist insults”. “The premeditated and racist character of this heinous crime is evident,” they wrote. But police (Polícia de Segurança Pública) say there’s not yet any proof of the accusation. Lisbon Metropolitan Command Commissioner said none of the witnesses at the scene spoke of “racist acts” and there were reports of dialogies or confrantions that may have been behind the alleged murder but none spoke of racist issues. He added there was still a lot to be done to investigate the case. Diário de Notícias reported that the Lisbon-born man had wanted to be an actor since he was young and had worked at theatre company Casa Conveniente. His family said he kept fighting for his acting dreams even after being seriously injured in a cycling accident two years ago and described him as a sociable and affable person, favourite uncle and playful dad, dedicated to his family.
Huge blaze brought under control in central Portugal
A blaze that burnt thousands of hectares of land in inland central Portugal has been brought under control, Público reports. Firefighter Diogo Dias died and several others were injured in a car crash as they worked to control the fire. South-central district commander Luís Belo Costa said there was still a lot of work ahead as crews continued “consolidation work”. The perimeter of the fire in Oleiros, in the district of Castelo Branco, is “extraordinarily large” in an “extremely complex” area in terms of vegetation. Three villages had been under close observation over the weekend but Mr Belo Costa said none were at risk after the fire was brought under control on Monday because there was no “active front”. He said the burnt area could be as large as 6000 hectares (a hectare is about as big as a football or rugby pitch) but no homes were damaged, according to Oleiros Council vice-president Vítor Antunes. There were 868 firefighters, 274 vehicles and two planes still on the scene on Monday morning.
A state of alert is in place today and tomorrow due to the hot, dry and windy weather, prohibiting access to forests, Público reports.The districts of Faro, Viseu, Vila Real, Bragança, Guarda, Castelo Branco, Santarém and Portalegre are at maximum or very high fire risk.
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In brief
Tourists keeping away from Lisbon have started arriving in Porto. You won’t find the usual crowds at Pastéis de Belem or the Jerónimos Monastery but lines are starting to form outside Porto tourist favourite Livraria Lello. (Público)
Companies with fall in sales above 75% will have exceptional support. (Diário de Notícias)
Authorities shut down illegal parties in Costa da Caparica. Two venues were closed due to parties that “indicated incompliance” with pandemic rules. (Público)
Austria keeps Portugal on the list of countries with entry restrictions. (Diário de Notícias)
Drop in income "pushes" over-indebted families to credit scammers. (Público)
TAP to resume 40% of pre-pandemic operations in September. (Público)
On a lighter note
Today’s lighter note has absolutely nothing to do with the news but is pretty much guaranteed to brighten your day, and every day after that, so long as you like dogs. Pó D'Arroz (a make-up powder) and Broa de Mel (a honey-flavoured biscuit cake) are probably my two favourite Instagram dogs, and they just happen to be Portuguese. One is big, one is small and they are both very good boys, and very funny.
I’m hoping to keep as many expats informed as possible, so please share this with any friends you think might find it useful.