“Even without a State of Emergency, we will not be able to live as before. Until there is a vaccine, we are not going to resume normal life». The prime minister highlighted today that the rules on hygiene and social distancing will continue to apply after the State of Emergency ends in Portugal.
António Costa left this warning after an hour-long meeting with Cardinal Patriarch of Lisbon D. Manuel Clemente, at the Olivais Seminary, on the conditions for lifting restrictions on movement from May, after the end of the current phase of state of emergency because of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
“This is not yet the time for the country to let its guard down in terms of containment measures and social distancing. Until there is a vaccine, we are not going to resume normal life. Even without a state of emergency, we will not be able to live as before», declared the leader of the executive.
Before the journalists, António Costa said that the country cannot live "permanently in the current situation of closure", but, on the other hand, it will not be able to return to normality until there is a vaccine.
"We have a long period ahead of us in which, even without a State of Emergency, we will have to maintain norms of social and personal hygiene, norms of removal, containment and restriction of movement, or voluntarily - as happened with the decision of the Episcopal Conference -, or imposed by the State on the basis of the powers at its disposal," he stressed.
At this point, the prime minister reiterated the idea that, when the state of emergency ends, eventually on May 2, "everything will not return to normal".
“Until there is a vaccine, we have to maintain norms for living with the virus, which will be out there. This is still the time to maintain great rigor and discipline with regard to containment and social distancing», he concluded.
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