Aljezur will retreat from the process of deconfinement, to the second phase, while Portimão will remain at the same level it already was, Prime Minister António Costa has just announced. The remaining Algarve councils will move forward in the process as of this Saturday, 1st of May, the date on which Portugal will enter a situation of calamity, after the end of the state of emergency.
These were some of the new things coming out of the long Council of Ministers that lasted all day.
Aljezur, who once again repeated an assessment with more than 120 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants, is forced to retreat into deconfinement and will return to the April 5 phase. The restaurants can only work with a terrace – and 4 people -, until 22:30 during the week and at 13:00 at the weekend.
As for Portimão, which had backed off in the last assessment, it is still in the first phase, with closed terraces, as well as museums and galleries. The stores will also be obliged to sell exclusively through the window.
Even so, António Costa said that the evolution in this municipality is “being frankly positive”, despite the restrictions being maintained, for the time being.
"Today there are 159 cases per 100 inhabitants and is almost reaching the goal", reinforced the prime minister, adding that the situation in Portimão "should not remain like this any longer".
Good news is that the assessment will be weekly instead of biweekly.
Albufeira, who had not gone ahead in the lack of confidence, managed to improve the indicators and will follow the rest of the country from 1 May.
In Odemira, in turn, it will be decreed a sanitary fence in two parishes: São Teotónio and Longueira/Almograve.
These two parishes, precisely those in which there is more concentration of intensive agricultural holdings, focus of many cases, will return to the 15th of March phase.
The remaining parishes in the municipality of Odemira will enter, as from May 1, Saturday, the next phase of decontamination, like the rest of the country, added the prime minister.
António Costa also alerted 27 municipalities that currently have more than 120 cases per 100 inhabitants, including Vila Real de Santo António, Lagos and Beja.
From Saturday onwards, Portugal will enter a situation of calamity and there are several new features, with the opening of the borders with Spain, for example. In addition, the restaurants, cafes and patisseries will be open until 22:30, during the week, and also on Saturday and Sunday, with a limit of 10 people on terraces and 6 inside.
The concert halls will also be open until 22:30 pm and weddings, baptisms and other celebrations can be held with a capacity of up to 50%.
As for the stores and shopping centers, they have the possibility of being open until 19:00 pm (Saturday and Sunday) and 21:00 pm from Monday to Friday.
The sale of alcohol is also allowed until 21 pm.
António Costa also revealed that, after having asked specialists for a new case counting model to avoid harming low-density municipalities with population fluctuations, the solution will involve a qualitative assessment of the situation.
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