Portugal moves to state of contingency from September 15 // The COVID-tracing app is finally ready
Portuguese news in English on August 28, 2020
By the numbers
It’s not great news heading into the weekend unfortunately, with the biggest three-day increase in cases since July 11. There were 399 cases yesterday and 362 the day before, breaking a string of three days below 200 daily cases. Director-General of Health Graça Freitas said it was too early to try to explain the increase in cases of the past few days but pointed out there was an increase in activity throughout all of Europe, Público reported. One possible explanation was the normal activity of people, including tourism and emigrants returning to visit their families.
Portugal moves to state of contingency from September 15
The rest of the country will join the Lisbon Metropolitan Area in a state of contingency from September 15, Público reports. But that doesn’t mean the restrictions in place in Lisbon will necessarily spread across the country because the state of contingency is a legal framework rather than a specific set of measures. Minister of State for the Presidency Mariana Vieira da Silva confirmed the change on Thursday, citing what was expected to be “a more difficult context” given the international context, change in routines and impending arrival of autumn. She said the objective was to prepare the country for the return to school and many people heading back to work, adding that the government could not be “indifferent” to raising case numbers across many European countries. Reuters has a report in English here.
Portugal’s Covid-tracing app is finally ready
After five months in development, StayAway Covid, Portugal’s coronavirus tracing app is ready for release this weekend, Público reports. José Manuel Mendonça, president of INESC TEC, who has been coordinating the app’s development, said the app didn’t use any personal details, instead using Bluetooth to detect proximity to other devices and send alerts if necessary. After being developed, the app had to pass through evaluations by The National Data Protection Commission and the National Cybersecurity Centre, before being approved by Apple and Google. Prime Minister António Costa is set to officially launch the app in Porto at the start of next week. Authorities want as many people as possible to download the app to help with tracing, but it doesn’t replace traditional testing and public health contact tracing efforts.
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In brief
New solar power auction brings “excellent news” and “perplexity”. It set another price record but the profitability of some projects raised doubts. (Público)
Workers on Recibos Verdes can ask for a second support package. After six months, they can ask for another support package. (Público)
Ryanair tries to cancel government support for TAP. (Público) The Irish carrier is taking its objection to the $1.2 billion support package to the Court of Justice of the European Union. (Público)
National budget discussions back on the table. The various parties are meeting today to discuss what they want. (Público)
On a lighter note
Seeing as you were all kind enough to let me take a break while I was in The Azores, I figure the least I can do is share some of my tips. Basically, go for the stunning natural beauty, eat all of the steak and seafood and make the most of somewhere that’s remote enough you can almost forget about the pandemic every once in a while. You can check out my piece in The Telegraph here.
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