New Lockdown Confirmed

The President of the Republic has today decreed the modification of the state of emergency in force and its confirmed its renewal for another fifteen days, until January 30th, to allow measures to contain the Covid-19.

“The renewal of the state of emergency until 23:59 on January 30, which I just signed, has a very urgent and precise purpose: to try contain and reverse the accelerated growth of the pandemic, visible, in recent days, in cases, hospitalizations, intensive care and, even more, in deaths “, says Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, in a note published on the Presidency of the Republic website.

This decree modifies the state of emergency currently in force, with new rules that apply from Thursday 14th January across the last two days of the previous decree, which ends at 23:59 on 15 January, and renews it for a further fifteen days, from 00:00 on Saturday 16th January until 23:59 on the 30th January.

The prime minister commented that the new confinement will be similar to that of March and the measures will be reviewed within 15 days after the beginning of the confinement if the situation improves, and “some measures may then be lightened”.

“Schools are a big topic of divergence” but António Costa guarantees that they are not a “contamination factor”. “Nothing justifies the closure of schools for children up to 12 years old”, he said. Regarding these students and those older, up to the 12th year, the measures are still to be decided.

The prime minister also said that today we can expectto have more than 7 thousand people infected and that the vaccine will not, for now, guarantee group immunity. “The vaccination period is going to be very long.”

Finally, in a summary of the measures, he also called for the use of a mask, hand hygiene and social distance.

This is the ninth decree of the state of emergency during the current Covid-19 pandemic.

Original article available in Portuguese at http://postal.pt/