PORTUGAL – Residents of 19 neighborhoods in the northern suburbs of Lisbon where foci of contagion to the coronavirus persist will be confined again at home from July 1, Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced on Thursday June 25.
In the name of a “civic duty of home confinement”, which will remain in force for at least two weeks, these populations will only be able to leave their homes to go to work, go shopping or buy medicine.
In total, all the parishes that make up the municipality of Amadora and Odivelas, six parishes in Sintra, two in Loures and, already in the city of Lisbon, the parish of Santa Clara, will be affected.
“The situation is serious”
In these adjoining sub-municipalities, gatherings will be limited to five people, compared to 10 people in the whole capital region and 20 in the rest of Portugal.
“This is not a return to square one,” insisted the head of the socialist government, arguing that these measures were aimed at responding to “situations of high concentration of cases in residential areas”.
“We are aware that the situation is serious and it is for this reason that we are doing tests to find the cases and isolate them quickly”, explained Antonio Costa, while ensuring that the crisis remained “generally stable” since the Portugal began its deconfinement almost two months ago.
The number of cases increased significantly in June
In this country of about 10 million inhabitants, where the mask is compulsory in closed spaces, the number of new daily cases went up in recent days at between 300 and 400, when it had dropped to around a hundred in early May.
In total, Portugal has recorded just over 40,000 cases of Covid-10 and around 1,500 deaths. Of the 40,000 cases recorded since 1is March, nearly 10,000 occurred in a month, including 311 for the single day of June 25, identified for three quarters in the Lisbon region, according to the newspaper Public.
Portugal is already the second country in Europe, behind Sweden, with the highest rate of new infections per 100,000 inhabitants, reports The HuffPost Spain.
Fines up to 5,000 euros
For fifteen days, the 700,000 inhabitants concerned are called upon to respect the “civic duty to stay at home” and therefore invited to limit travel as much as possible. However, nothing is imposed.
On Tuesday, the government had already reintroduced several restrictions in the metropolitan area of Lisbon such as the prohibition of alcohol consumption on the street and the closing of shops and cafes from 8:00 p.m., to avoid crowds.
Antonio Costa also announced that people who deviate from the rules in force would incur fines of 100 to 500 euros, or 1,000 to 5,000 euros for establishments that do not meet their obligations regarding opening hours or disinfection and occupation. Locals.
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