After a meeting of the Council of Ministers this Thursday, António Costa announced new measures for the country and updated the list of risky municipalities.
The prime minister began by stressing that “the situation is serious, more critical than the situation we experienced at the beginning of the pandemic”.
He stressed that the current measures “less intense and concentrated on the weekend” in order to “ensure continuity” for the current academic year and minimally disturb “economic activity”.
Regarding the controversy with the commercial spaces, António Costa criticized “schedules and aggressive sales promotion for the sale of non-essential goods” and announced that “it will be closed from 1 pm on Saturday and until 8 am on Sunday, all commercial establishments and restaurants (with the exception of establishments that already had opening hours before 8 am) “.
“The rule is everything closed” , said the head of the Government in a press conference after the meeting of the Council of Ministers.
Restaurants can only operate from 13:00 for home delivery, explained the prime minister.
Risk Counties: those who enter and those who leave
On the list of risky counties, António Costa announced he wants to change to 191. They leave 7 (They leave the list Moimenta da Beira, Tabuaço, São João da Pesqueira, Mesão Frio, Pinhel, Tondela and Batalha) and enter 77. The list of municipalities with high risk of transmission of covid-19, subject to more restrictive measures such as curfew, will increase next Monday (from 00:00) to 191, announced the Government .
Regarding the exceptions, António Costa was responsible and established thatdespite the exceptions being the establishments that already had opening hours before 8 am, “The rule is simple: we must stay at home”.
Reassessed every 15 days by the Government, the list of municipalities with a high risk of transmission of covid-19 is defined according to the general criterion of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) of “more than 240 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants in the last 14 days “, and considering the proximity to another municipality in this situation and the exception for outbreaks located in low density municipalities.
List of new risk councils:
Manteigas
Freixo de Espada à Cinta
Figueira de Castelo Rodrigo
Coruche
Seia
Proença-a-Nova
Monforte
Vieira do Minho
Mealhada
Celorico da Beira
Castro Daire
Arronches
Nelas
Vila Nova de Foz Côa
Mora
Torre de Moncorvo
Mêda
Mangualde
Salvaterra de Magos
Pampilhosa da Serra
Ourém
Vila do Bispo
Penela
Miranda do Douro
Albergaria-a-Velha
Águeda
Oliveira do Bairro
Arganil
Grândola
Resende
Mira
Ílhavo
Abrantes
Boticas
Coimbra
Almeida
Cantanhede
Almeirim
Ferreira do Alentejo
São Pedro do Sul
Estarreja
Faro
Cuba
Mirandela
Campo Maior
Miranda do Corvo
Alcanena
Ponte de Sor
Condeixa-a-Nova
Arcos de Valdevez
Montalegre
Montemor-o-Velho
Crato
Viseu
Reguengos de Monsaraz
Vagos
Penalva do Castelo
Sousel
Évora
Penamacor
Murtosa
Lamego
Vila Real de Santo António
Albufeira
Carrazeda de Ansiães
Elvas
Vila Nova de Paiva
Alvaiázere
Tábua
Portalegre
Portimão
Ansião
Tavira
Lagos
Aljustrel
Anadia
Sátão
Different measures for each ‘level’ of risky municipalities as of November 24th
Regarding the measures applied to the municipalities identified with high risk, António Costa defended the differentiation of measures, through the “scaling” of these territories.
This differentiation, he added, will be proposed by the Minister of Health, so that the specific measures of each ‘step’ take effect on November 24.
List of exceptions for commercial establishments
– Pharmacies;
– Clinics and offices;
– Food stores with a door to the street up to 200 m2;
– Fuel stations
Support to restaurants of 20% of the billing break on weekends
António Costa announced a 20% support to restaurants on the billing losses of the next two weekends, revenues that should be compared to the average of weekends between January and October this year.
“From the next 25th, through the 2020 counter, restaurant owners will be able to communicate what was the actual revenue for the next two weekends, and the support will be 20% of the revenue from these weekends, by the average billing at the end between January and October “, explained the prime minister.
Costa considers that there were “mistakes” about the measures and criticizes focus on exceptions
The Prime Minister stated that the measures to limit circulation taken by the Government in the context of the state of emergency generated “misunderstandings”, opening the door to an excess of concentration on exceptions and a devaluation of the rule.
“It is clear that the Government’s effort to balance – certainly due to a deficiency in our communication – generated misunderstandings and opened the door, on the one hand, to an excess of concentration on exceptions and a devaluation of the rule,” stated António Costa in end of the Council of Ministers.
The prime minister regretted that, over the past week, there has been “a kind of contest to see where the exception is for not following the rule of staying at home”.
“There is creativity in terms of schedules, aggressive promotion of the sale of non-essential goods and even calls by business associations for non-compliance with the measures enacted in a state of emergency,” he criticized.
In this context, according to António Costa, the Government was “forced to eliminate any type of misunderstanding” with regard to restrictions on freedom of movement in the municipalities most affected by covid-19 over the next two weekends.
Criticism of those “looking for the exception more than the rule” and asking for “sacrifice”
António Costa highlighted the “enormous pressure” that will be seen in the Health services in the coming weeks to appeal to the compliance of the measures by all Portuguese. “Only after that will there be a reduction in the number of deaths,” explained the prime minister. To “support health professionals” Costa stressed that the additional effort to be made “is this additional sacrifice” of scrupulously complying with the measures.
“Imagine what will be the degree of tiredness of those who are in hospitals, in health centers … the minimum respect that we owe to health professionals is everything we do to not be in the care of those same health professionals”. The rule is simple “we have to stay at home”, he reinforced.
Costa assumes all the blame for poorly conveyed message about new rules
The Prime Minister, António Costa, took all the blame for the poorly conveyed message about the new rules for the state of emergency, making it clear that “it is really for people to stay at home “.
At the press conference after the Council of Ministers, António Costa was asked by journalists about whether he assumed responsibility for the mistakes he identified in relation to these new rules and wanted to correct today.
“I already save the discussions: it is all my fault because surely it was the messenger who transmitted the message badly and, therefore, nothing like correcting the message”, he assumed.
