Covid-19: Portugal alert level raised to state of calamity again

published on 30 October 2020 | reading time approx. 2 minutes

Portugal has raised the alert level in the country due to the growing number of cases of Covid-19. Consequently, the Council of Ministers Resolution n.º 88-A/2020, of 14 October, enacted the situation of calamity in all national mainland territory until 11:59 pm on 31 October 2020.

The state of calamity is the third level of alert provided for in the Legal Framework of Civil Protection and can only be declared when, in light of the occurrence or risk of a serious accident or catastrophe, and its foreseeable intensity, it is deemed necessary to adopt derogatory measures to prevent, react or restore normal living conditions in the areas affected by its effects.

 
Portugal, like the rest of Europe, has seen a worsening of the pandemic, with the number of infected, interned and dead growing every day. As of today, Portugal has a total of 128.392 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 2395 deaths from Covid-19. The Country is in a growth situation that will tend to get worse over the coming days. There have been more than 2000 new registered cases a day for the past weeks, over five times levels seen over the summer.

 
With this scenario in mind, the Government has decided to proceed with eight fundamental measures to help curb infection rates, such as:

1. Raise the level of alert of the contingency situation to the state of calamity throughout the national territory.
2. Groups limited to 5 people, in street, shopping malls and restaurants.
3. Limit events of a family nature, such as weddings, baptisms and others, which are scheduled from 15 October, to a maximum of 50 people, all of the participants must comply with the rules of social distancing and individual protection such as the use of a mask.
4. It is now forbidden in academic institutions, namely in universities and polytechnics, all academic celebrations, and activities of a non-academic or scientific character, such as the freshman reception ceremonies and other types of celebrations that involve gatherings.
5. Determine to the security forces and ASAE (Authority of alimentary and economic security) a reinforcement of the actions of compliance with these rules, either in public spaces or in commercial and catering establishments.
6.  Increase fines up to 10,000 euros for anyone breaking rules over physical distancing or the numbers of people allowed to meet.
7.  All citizens must use a mask in public and whenever there are other people in public areas.
8. The limitation of movement between different municipalities on the mainland in the period between 00.00 on 30 October and 06.00 on 3 November 2020.

The Prime Minister scheduled meetings with the parties on Friday and called for Saturday an extraordinary Council of Ministers to define new immediate actions to control the Covid-19 pandemic in Portugal.