Almost 700,000 Portuguese face new corona
lockdown
Portugal tightens restrictions to break COVID’s grip
on Lisbon suburbs, relaxes measures elsewhere.
By PAUL
AMES 6/25/20, 7:10 PM CET Updated 6/26/20, 1:49 PM CET
Authorities
are also anxious to stem infections among young people keen to party even
though bars and night clubs remain closed. | Patricia Moreira de Melo/AFP via Getty images
LISBON —
The Portuguese government announced the end of a nationwide “state of calamity”
Thursday but reintroduced lockdown restrictions for almost 700,000 people
living around Lisbon, where the coronavirus is staging a tenacious resistance.
“Everybody
has to understand that this additional effort is essential: COVID has not
disappeared,” Prime Minister António Costa said.
“The only
effective way to control it is to do what we did very well during the state of
emergency, which is to stay at home as much as possible, to maintain social distancing
as much as possible,” he told reporters.
The
government reimposed lockdowns in the Lisbon satellite cities of Amadora and
Odivelas, plus one outlying neighborhood of the capital itself and the
worst-hit districts in the suburbs of Sintra and Loures.
Over
697,000 residents in that strip of blue-collar districts north of Lisbon are
again being told not to leave home except for work, food shopping or other
essential trips. Gatherings of more than five people are banned.
Costa is
desperate to contain the outbreaks, which are hurting Portugal’s image as it
struggles to relaunch the vital tourist trade.
The
government confirmed other rollback measures across the rest of greater Lisbon,
including reducing the size of gatherings from 20 to 10, ordering shops and
cafés to close by 8 p.m. and banning alcohol sales from gas stations.
Policing is
being stepped up, with fines of up to €5,000 for infringements of the rules.
Alcohol
consumption in public areas is banned across the country in an attempt to stop
illegal parties blamed for spreading the virus among young people.
Lisbon city
council on Thursday also banned street markets, bringing an immediate halt to
the twice-weekly Feira da Ladra flea market. The popular tourist attraction
only reopened in May after two months of shutdown.
Decisive
action in the early stages of the pandemic helped Portugal dodge the
devastation wrought by COVID-19 in much of western Europe. A state of emergency
declared on March 18 was downgraded to a state of calamity on May 2, beginning
a phased deconfinement.
Under the
new “state of alert,” which will apply to the country outside greater Lisbon
from July 1, rules on social distancing and wearing face masks in stores and
other spaces will be maintained, Costa said.
With 151
coronavirus deaths per million citizens, Portugal’s mortality rate remains
around a quarter of those in Spain or Italy, but the virus’ stubborn grip
around Lisbon means Portugal’s rise in new infections is now among Europe’s
fastest. Daily new cases have averaged above 300 for over a month.
Denmark has
excluded Portugal — and Sweden — from plans to reopen borders with other EU
countries this weekend. According to the Times, the U.K. is also considering
leaving Portugal off a list of countries where Brits can vacation without
facing a two-week quarantine when they return.
Portugal is
lobbying hard to ensure that doesn’t happen. The U.K. is its biggest tourism
market with British travelers accounting for 18 percent of the country’s €18.4
billion tourism earnings last year.
Costa has
claimed Portugal’s high infection rate can largely be explained by a testing
program that is among the most extensive in Europe, with around 10 percent of
the population tested.
However,
the pace of new cases forced the government to adopt the new measures north of
Lisbon where the spread is highest among construction workers, cleaning staff,
warehouse and factory employees.
Authorities
are also anxious to stem infections among young people keen to party even
though bars and night clubs remain closed. Illegal gatherings this month
triggered localized outbreaks in areas little-touched by the pandemic,
including beach resorts on the southern Algarve and Alentejo coasts
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