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Portugal on Saturday announced a partial lockdown to take effect from Wednesday to try to limit the spread of Covid-19.
As in other European countries such as England and France, the restrictions will be less severe than those imposed earlier in the year, but will still affect around 70 percent of the population.
“The moment has arrived when it is necessary to take more restrictive measures… in order to take control of this pandemic, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said following a cabinet meeting.
Measures already in place for nearly two weeks in three municipalities in northern Portugal will be expanded from Wednesday to 121 communes out of a total of 308, covering around 7.1 million people or 70 percent of the population.
People will still be able to work if they cannot work from home and to take children to school.
Shops will have to shut by 10pm and businesses will have to adopt staggered working hours.
Portugal on Friday recorded 656 new coronavirus cases and 40 deaths with nearly 2,000 people receiving treatment, of whom 275 were in intensive care.