Closed schools, bars and nightclubs, limited shopping centers and restaurants: Portugal at a standstill “fight for its survival”
Portugal announced shock measures last night to combat the continuing coronavirus epidemic. As Spain begins to experience an Italian scenario with more than 3,000 confirmed cases already, Portugal does not let down and takes advantage of the time in advance to reverse the epidemic. Suspended classes, limited shopping centers and restaurants, retirement homes without visits: Portugal is almost stopped and is scheduled for the coming weeks, after the Portuguese government has decided to suspend all educational activities on the basis an international council. The various parties support the measures but warned that it was necessary to go further - because "prevention is better than cure". Antonio Costa declared that "It is a struggle for our own survival and for the protection of the life of the Portuguese people". Lisbob, the expatriate assistant in Portugal, tells you all about the shock measures taken by the Portuguese government to fight the coronavirus epidemic.
Closed schools, bars and nightclubs, limited shopping centers and restaurants: Portugal at a standstill “fight
By calling upon everyone's responsibility, the Portuguese government has decreed a country to be shut down for the next few weeks. All "classroom teaching activities" will be suspended from daycare centers to higher education from Monday and at least until April 9. Clubs and bars will be closed; the frequency of shopping centers and other public services will be limited to avoid having too many people in the same space; the maximum capacity of the restaurants will be reduced by a third; the suspension of home visits is extended to the whole country; and disembarking of passengers from ships will only be possible for the Portuguese. The restrictive measures that António Costa announced to the country at 9:30 p.m. were supported by the various parties that the Prime Minister received during a marathon, but there were also those who asked for more.
During the 15 minutes of his declaration, in addition to announcing the restrictions, the head of the Portuguese government made an effort to underline the gravity and the exceptionality of the situation and the need for a common work of all - State and citizens - to contain the pandemic, by emphasizing everyone's responsibility and their duty to protect themselves and the rest of society. Because it is a threat that only a united country can face, he said.
“The first duty of each of us is to take care of others. It is to avoid that, by negligence, by ignorance, we endanger the health of the other. Each of us thinks that he is in a healthy situation, but the truth is that none of us know if he is not carrying a virus and which, involuntarily, is transmitted to another ”, underlined António Costa during his 15 minute statement, after having the Ministers of Health, Labor and the Economy in the room.
In some meetings with the parties, the Prime Minister was concerned about the lack of information and technical knowledge about the virus - which has led to conflicting positions even of doctors and specialists - and about the unpredictability of the pandemic .
Source anmsp.pt
The suspension of lessons for the two million or so pupils and pre-school children is the measure that will have the most impact on the lives of Portuguese people - many parents will have to stay at home - and the one that sparked the more controversy in recent days. It has also created instability in schools, some closed, several in operation, and principals with different opinions.
The government's decision ends up contradicting the opinion of the National Council of Public Health barely 24 hours after defending the closure of the schools. On Wednesday evening, the Portuguese Minister of Health, seated next to the President of the Council, argued that the government was carefully following the directives of the health organizations and that António Costa also insisted on adopting the measures "on the basis of the best scientific and technical consensus knowledge ”.
But it was not Portuguese knowledge that finally led to it: the Prime Minister justified the decision to suspend the courses with the opinion of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control which "unequivocally recommends to all member states the closure of educational establishments at all levels ”. "In the absence of a consolidation of the technical understanding of the subject, the precautionary principle requires the suspension of all classroom teaching activities" for four weeks.
On the eve of Easter, the situation will be assessed - if "the pandemic evolution has a more favorable progression" or if alternatives to face to face courses are imposed, added the head of the Portuguese government. "The closure of the schools is not due to the fact that they are a place of contamination, but because they are a place of contact, which promotes contamination," he said.
To compensate parents who have to stay at home with their children, there will be wage compensation for those who have children under 12 who are not sick through a "special mechanism to ensure partial remuneration". There will also be capacity building for the SNS and support for businesses, added Antonio Costa.