Masses canceled throughout the country and Fátima Sanctuary closed from Saturday

The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, promulgated today the Government diploma that approves the extraordinary and urgent measures to respond to the Covid-19 outbreak, announced the Palace of Belém.

In view of the national alert situation in which the country lives, and with the expectation of subsequent parliamentary ratification, the President of the Republic today enacted the Government diploma that approves the extraordinary and urgent measures to respond to the epidemiological situation of the new coronavirus ”, reads the note published on the Presidency of the Republic’s website.

The President has been quarantined in his home since Sunday, after having been at the Palace of Belém on Tuesday, with a class from a school in Felgueiras (Porto), which was closed due to the internment of a student – who was in Belém – due to illness.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa tested the coronavirus on Monday, despite having no symptoms, and the result was negative.

On Thursday, the Government announced that schools of all grades of education will suspend all classroom activities starting on Monday due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Several universities and other schools had already decided to suspend teaching activities.

The Government has also decided to declare a state of alert throughout the country, putting civil protection means and security forces and services on standby.

Restrictions on the operation of nightclubs and the like, a ban on disembarking passengers from cruise ships, except for residents in Portugal, the suspension of visits to homes across the country and the establishment of frequency limitations in shopping centers and supermarkets for ensuring the possibility of maintaining a safe distance were other measures approved.

Other measures had already been taken in Portugal to contain the pandemic, such as the suspension of air links with Italy.

The new coronavirus responsible for Covid-19 was detected in December in China and has already caused more than 5,300 deaths worldwide, leading the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the disease as a pandemic.

In Portugal, the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) today updated the number of infected people, which registered the greatest increase in one day (34), from 78 to 112, of which 107 are hospitalized.

The North region continues to have the largest number of confirmed cases (53), followed by Greater Lisbon, whose registration has doubled to 46, while the Central and Algarve regions each have six confirmed cases. In addition to these, there is a case reported by DGS abroad.

The epidemiological bulletin also points out that, since the beginning of the epidemic, the DGS has registered 1,308 suspected cases (more than double compared to Thursday) and has 5,674 contacts under surveillance.

Marcelo announces that his quarantine will end soon

In the same note, the President of the Republic justifies that “he intended to take a decision on the State Budget for 2020 by the end of this week”, but that “given the need to analyze more closely the context that will surround its execution, he understood that postpone your decision until next week ”.

In addition, the head of state also reveals that next week, “the weekly audience” to Prime Minister António Costa will already “take place at the Palace of Belém”, where the President of the Republic will return “from the end of the fifteen days counted since the session with students from Felgueiras on the 3rd. ”

At the end of the note, published earlier this evening on the Presidency’s website, Marcelo informs that “in the last few days, (…) he maintained telephone contacts with several Heads of State, with emphasis on King Philip VI of Spain and the Italian President Sergio Mattarella ”.

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