Most of mainland Portugal will remain on alert and the Lisbon Metropolitan Area in a contingency situation until the end of the month due to the covid-19 pandemic, the Government announced today.
As explained by the Minister of the Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, at the end of the meeting of the Council of Ministers, this decision took into account that “the same conditions as 15 days ago” are maintained.
In order to make the decision, he added, an assessment was made “of all the criteria defined in April by the Government, at the beginning of the deflationary process, regarding the response capacity of the SNS [Serviço Nacional de Saúde], the NHS testing capacity, the reduction in the number of patients admitted to the infirmary and intensive care and the reduction in the number of deaths ”.
The Council of Ministers also approved the decree-law that creates the Banco Português de Fomento, which will come into force within 40 working days, announced the Minister of State and Economy, Siza Vieira.
At the end of the Council of Ministers meeting, Siza Vieira stated that after authorization by the European Commission, on August 4, the Government today approved the decree-law that creates the Banco Português de Fomento, to mitigate the effects of the 19.
The diploma “will come into force within 40 working days” and within that period “a set of formalities” necessary to start the institution’s activity in the third quarter of the year will be taken, said the Minister of State, Economy and Digital Transition .
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