The new rules for restaurants, and how to get food delivered safely
English language coronavirus news in Portugal on May 7, 2020.
By the numbers
Fewer coronavirus patients have died in the past 24 hours than any other day since March 23. Unfortunately, the number of new confirmed cases sits at about 500 (or 2%) for the third day in a row, having hovered around the 200 or 300 mark for much of the past week. The epidemic isn’t over, warns Secretary of State for Health António Lacerda Sales, as quoted by Público. To reopen is not to relax, he says.
The new rules for restaurants
Back home in Australia the new national phrase seems to be “how good were pubs!”. From what I can tell, the Portuguese equivalent is “how good were esplanadas!”. Thankfully, from May 18, we’ll once again be able to sit down at the tables outside (or inside) our favourite restaurant, cafe, pastelaria, tasca, taberna, cantina or quiosque and tuck into a tosta mista (toasted sandwich) and an imperial (small beer). We knew there were going to be plenty of restrictions but we didn’t know what they would look like, until now. The Directorate-General of Health today announced guidelines governing the reopening, Público reports.
Instead of limiting occupancy by percentage, which happened for a short period before the state of emergency, DGS has chosen to enforce two-metre physical distancing between diners. Although people who live in the same house won’t have to be two metres apart, the same Público article says. That means the restrictions will probably look a bit different depending on the size of the restaurant. Restaurants are urged to favour the use of outdoor areas (like esplanadas!) and takeaway wherever possible, while encouraging customers to make bookings.
Staff must wear masks (in addition to normal hygiene practices, not as a substitute), sanitise their hands in between every client, wash dishes in a machine set to at least 80 degrees celsius. Glasses, plates and cutlery should be put on the table after the client is seated and different parts of the restaurant cleaned a minimum of a certain number of times throughout the day. Decorative elements should be taken off tables and handheld menus swapped out, ideally, for signs that don’t need to be touched or single-use menus. Diners should use hand sanitiser at the entrance, wash their hands with water and soap before their meal and follow the physical distancing and respiratory etiquette rules. Público says mask-wearing by clients is only referred to in relation to takeaway services. There’s no timeline for when bars and discos will be allowed to reopen.
I can’t wait for #esplanadalife but that table decoration will have to go. And I’m not sure whether breweries that serve food count as restaurants or bars. Photo: Jorge Branco
How to get food delivered safely
DGS has also released guidelines for deliveries, for those of you not comfortable heading to a restaurant yet or who just can’t wait that long for someone else to cook you a meal. After all, authorities would still like you to favour home delivery over going to shopping areas. Some of the measures Público describes are obvious, like paying electronically where possible. If you have to pay with cash, authorities recommend having the correct change and washing or sanitising your hands directly before and after touching the money. After getting your food, you should immediately take it out of the packaging and put it in the bin, so it doesn’t touch anything. Delivery drivers should keep two metres away from their clients, wash and decontaminate their food delivery bag, steering wheel/handlebars,keys, their hands and the payment terminal between every delivery.
Image: DGS
The Algarve is living in hope of local tourism
It’s hard to overstate the importance of tourism in the Algarve. Diário de Notícias reports the region is hoping for Portuguese tourists and fearing the impact of the economic crisis stemming from the pandemic. After starting the year with a 15% surge in tourism, the region is now hoping for a summer as close to normal as possible to make up for the plummeting number of visitors in recent months. For visitors, the pandemic will mean conditions placed on beach access and fewer hotels, restaurants and activities than normal. For the residents, it means fewer jobs, less income. Portimão mayor Isilda Gomes is looking to the coming months with a “mix of expectation and hope, but also concern”. “Our economy is dependent on tourism, almost 90%. If there’s no tourism, our economy dies,” she says.
In brief
The government wants to make sure Portuguese emigrants can come home for summer. The Foreign Relations Minister reminded people that European air space remains open.
Prime Minister: “If everything goes badly, there won’t be a lack of ventilators”. António Costa says Portugal can’t depend on a “completely deregulated and wild” market for supplies. The country should emerge from the pandemic with one lesson “very well learned”: it must reinforce its production capacity.
Azambuja, north of Lisbon, rejects sanitary fence. With more than 100 cases confirmed among workers at a business in the Vila Nova da Rainha/Azambuja Industrial Zone, mayors and local health authorities are worried about an explosion in cases in the coming days.
On a lighter note
Just when I thought I was going to have to find something other than wine to write about on a Friday, Time Out comes through with the goods. If you don’t want to brave the supermarket, or feel like trying something a little harder to find, this list of wine deliveries could be just the thing. Yes, it’s a few weeks old now, but I haven’t highlighted it before and it features everything from medium-sized chains through to speciality shops, wine bars and vineyards. Saúde! (You can also say Tchim tchim! Portuguese onomatopoeia for cheers)