The president of the Associação de Discos do Sul e Algarve (ADSA) considered that the postponement of the reopening of nightlife from 10 to 14 January, announced yesterday by the Government, continues to be a "penalty" for business.
Asked by the Lusa agency about the Government decision to move the reopening of bars and clubs to the 14th, announced yesterday by the prime minister, António Costa, at the end of the meeting of the Council of Ministers, the president of ADSA, Liberto Mealha, admitted that these measures may be necessary, due to the worsening of the numbers of positive cases by Covid-19, but warned that entrepreneurs continue to have expenses and it is necessary to support them.
“I know that there has never been as much contagion as now and, in fact, this is a bit alarming and the authorities are concerned with containing the spread, although these infections, fortunately, are not leading to more hospitalizations. But these measures, in fact, continue to be penalizing for those who have the business", said Liberto Mealha.
The ADSA president recalled that this measure, «for the Algarve, is not so painful», because at this stage of the year, business «would naturally be closed» as it is the low season for tourism in the region, but he stressed that «it is more complicated for colleagues from the rest of the country', who continue to have current expenses and work teams.
"Time passes, expenses remain, it's not that I disagree with the measures taken, because we've never had numbers with so many infected, but support needs to come", he appealed.
Liberto Mealha asked the Government to «don't leave it forgotten», because the support is necessary «to be able to support and endure all these measures, which are not awkward, but on the other hand greatly affect entrepreneurs».
“As always, the bars and clubs are always the last and the situation is complicated”, he added.
Asked about the presentation of negative tests to Covid-19 to allow access to nightlife spaces, Liberto Mealha considered that, “if a quick test is admitted, which does not need certification, it already greatly simplifies things”.
The president of ADSA argued that, if necessary, “certification can only be done by a laboratory” and this makes the process more expensive for the customer.
"If it's a quick test, without certification, no harm done," he said.
Regarding the exemption of tests for those who prove that they have had a booster dose of vaccination against covid-19 for at least 14 days, Liberto Mealha admitted that the target age of booster vaccination is still above that of those who usually attend clubs, although the measure is positive for these people.
Nightclubs and bars on the mainland will be able to reopen on January 14, maintaining the requirement of a negative Covid-19 test for access to these spaces, António Costa announced yesterday.
The prime minister said that the reopening on Friday of next week is accompanied by a “ban on the consumption of alcoholic beverages on public roads”.
As part of the containment of the Covid-19 pandemic, with greater restrictions during Christmas and New Year's Eve, nightlife spaces (bars, non-show drinking establishments and establishments with a dance space) remain closed from midnight onwards. December 00th and the measure was expected to last until January 00th, but now it will only be lifted on the 25th.
An official source from the Ministry of Economy told Lusa that the reinforcement of support to entrepreneurs of bars and clubs approved in December began to be paid yesterday and that, since the beginning of the pandemic, 53 million euros have already been unlocked for this sector, within the scope of of the Support program.
The same source underlined that the new extraordinary support, decided on December 23rd due to the closing of bars and clubs between December 25th and January 9th (which will now be extended until the 14th) had as a reference the billing of a quarter, the last of 2019, before the pandemic, given that in addition to having to close, in previous weeks, tests were needed to enter these spaces, which created constraints.
Finally, the Ministry of Economy stressed that whenever there is the closure of an activity because of the pandemic, entrepreneurs have access to support for “job maintenance”, such as the lay off during the entire closing period, so in this case this support will automatically be extended until 14 January.
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