Portugal eases Covid-19 restrictions

published on 2 September 2021 | reading time approx. 2 minutes

The Council of Ministers approved a resolution decreeing a state of contingency throughout the country. The decision is supported by the fact that the country has reached 70 per cent vaccination and it is now time to move on to the next phase, of the set of phases that had been approved at the end of July.

So far, 14,410,957 doses of the Covid-19 vaccine have been administered in Portugal. If we look at the latest data provided by the Ministry of Health, the Regional Secretariat of Health and Sport of the Azores and the Regional Secretariat of Health and Civil Protection of Madeira, 73.20 per cent of Portuguese people are already fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Portugal is thus the 12th country with the highest rate of doses administered per 100 inhabitants in the world.
 

With the approved Resolution, the entire country moves from a state of calamity to a state of contingency. The following rules are now in force:

• Commerce, restaurants, and cultural shows have normal hours (until 2am) and GDH rules.
• A vaccination certificate or negative test is required for travel by air or sea, for entry into tourist establishments or local accommodation, restaurants, indoors, on weekends and holidays, gyms (group classes), spas and thermal spas, casinos, and bingos, cultural, sporting or business events with more than a thousand people in the open or 500 indoors, and weddings or christenings with more than 10 people.
• The number of people per group inside catering and similar establishments is increased from 6 to 8 people, and on terraces from 10 to 15 people.
• Events, whether of a family nature, including weddings and christenings, or cultural events in fixed performance venues, will now have an occupancy limit of 75 per cent.
• As of 1 September, the Citizen's Shops will provide face-to-face service without the need to make an appointment.
• Public transport will no longer have a capacity limit and the use of front seats will be allowed in taxi transport and in individual and remunerated transport of passengers in uncharacterised vehicles from an electronic platform.
• The occupation, permanence, and physical distance regarding the allocation of spaces accessible to the public will now have an indicative maximum of one person per 12.5 m2.

The measures are expected to be further reduced in the coming weeks depending on the evolution of the number of infected and hospitalisations.