Portugal ordered the closure of nightclubs and bars on Tuesday and asked people to work from home for at least two weeks starting Saturday, in order to control the spread of Covid-19 during the year-end holiday period.
“This is not yet the normal Christmas we are used to,” Prime Minister Antonio Costa told a news conference. “If we don’t take these steps now, the consequences in everyone’s life will be much worse after Christmas and the New Year.”
Costa also announced capacity restrictions in stores, saying that a negative coronavirus test would now be required to stay in hotels or attend events.
Authorities will also limit outdoor gatherings to 10 people per group on New Year’s Eve, when a negative test will be needed to enter restaurants, casinos or attend parties in public spaces, it added.
Most of the measures announced by Costa were originally due to take effect in early January, but the current pandemic situation forced the government to implement them in advance, he said.
Portugal, which has one of the highest Covid-19 vaccination rates in the world, with around 87% of its 10 million inhabitants fully inoculated, faces an increase in infections along with the rest of Europe, in partly due to the rapid spread of the variant Omicron.
About 50% of the new cases of coronavirus in Portugal are of the variant Omicronthe National Institutes of Health said in a report Tuesday.
The country reported 5,754 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, returning to levels last seen in February, when it faced its toughest battle against the disease, but deaths and hospitalizations remain low compared to that period.
The Minister of Health, Marta Temido, said last week that infections by Omicron they were doubling every other day and could account for 80% of all new cases by the end of the month.
Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx