(Lusa).
The Minister of National Defense determined the “readiness, activation and collaboration of the Armed Forces (FA) within the scope of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 strain”, in an order that was published today in Diário da Republic.
The document, signed by Gomes Cravinho and dated Wednesday (28 October), has taken effect since then.
According to the order “the branches of the FA will contribute with the human and material resources that prove necessary to support the competent entities, in the context of this public health emergency”, with the Chief of the General Staff of the FA tasked with “gathering and activating the means (…), these being in their dependence ”, in coordination with the Civil Protection, security forces and services and other entities.
Also in the first line of combat to the pandemic will be the director of Military Health, “for the use of human and material resources related to the Hospital of the FA (HFAR), other health units of the FA and the Military Laboratory of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Products ”.
“This determination is in effect as long as the current situations of alert, contingency or calamity that justify the readiness, activation and collaboration of the FA in the scope of this public health emergency are maintained”, read further.
Gomes Cravinho estimated Monday, in parliament, “upwards of 30 million euros in commitments assumed and unexpected with the pandemic”, and that “there are still two months until the end of the year”, during the hearing on the State Budget for 2021.
On the same day, the Prime Minister, António Costa, proposed to the President of the Republic that a state of emergency be decreed “of a preventive nature” to “eliminate doubts” about the Government’s action to protect citizens.
The state of emergency was in force in Portugal at the beginning of this epidemic, between 19 March and 2 May, in the first wave of the pandemic.
According to the Constitution, the declaration of a state of emergency may determine the suspension of some of the rights, freedoms and guarantees, for a maximum period of 15 days, without prejudice to any renewals with the same time limit.
Its declaration in all or in part of the national territory is a competence of the President of the Republic, but depends on the hearing of the Government and the authorization of the parliament.
In Portugal, where the first cases of infection with the new coronavirus were detected on March 2, more than 2,500 people have already died from this disease, in a total of more than 146,000 cases of infection accounted for, according to the Directorate-General of Health (DGS).
