Portugal prolongs Covid border controls with Spain till March

Portugal said Friday it will extend border controls with neighbouring Spain until March 1, after imposing the restrictions to try to curb rampaging Covid-19 infections.

The measures introduced in late January involve controls at a number of crossing points and limit cross-border traffic, the government said in a statement.

They do allow for the flow of goods and emergency services and for people living near the border to pass from one country to the other.

Portuguese nationals and those with the right to reside in the country will also be allowed to return from Spain, and foreigners will be allow to leave.

Rail transport between Portugal and Spain, with the exception of goods trains, remains suspended.

In January Portugal suffered the worst rate of coronavirus infections in the world and since January 15 the country has been under a general lockdown.

There were a record 16,500 new cases on January 28 in the country of 10 million people. But the daily figure has started to decrease in recent days.

Friday’s official figures show 2,854 new coronavirus cases and 149 fatalities over the previous 24 hours.

Despite the improvement in the data, the country will “very probably” remain under lockdown until the end of March, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said Thursday.