Portugal in state of disaster despite high vaccination rate

From crisis to crisis alongside the vaccinated. Portugal too is not on the right track, despite being an EU country with the highest share of fully vaccinated population (87%).

The government will reintroduce masks, certificates and mandatory testing in enclosed spaces, and will penalise airlines that allow passengers without Covid tests to disembark from 1 December onwards, reports the Spanish daily newspaper El País.

From 1 December, the country will once again be placed under a «state of disaster» (the highest legally permitted response level in disaster situations), further restricting access to enclosed spaces in order to curb the steady rise in infections.

The most striking package of measures presented by Social Democratic Prime Minister António Costa, however, are those ordered for the first week of January 2022 to prevent «the tragic January 2021» from recurring. For that week, the government has mandated compulsory remote working in all companies, the closure of bars and nightclubs, and the suspension of the return to school. In Portugal, where the feast of the Three Kings is not celebrated, the return to school had been scheduled for Monday, 3 January. It will now be postponed to Monday, 10 May.

According to Costa, schools will be compensated for the forced closure. With the «week of containment«, as the Prime Minister called it, an attempt will be made to curb the spread of the coronavirus after a period of intense social and family life such as the Christmas holidays. The government has chosen to protect economic activity in a country heavily dependent on tourism and not to restrict travel and celebrations, although Costa appealed to individual responsibility and urged the Portuguese to get tested before their family gatherings.

The Portuguese know that their own behaviour guides the development of the pandemic, in addition to the pharmacological protection of the vaccine. It is clear that individual responsibility is greater when there are fewer restrictions.

Prime Minister António Costa

The government was reminded of the nightmare it experienced after the December 2020 holidays, when the worst wave of pandemic-related mortality in Portugal was triggered. Thanks to vaccination, the starting point is not comparable, but the increase in infections, hospitalisations, and deaths in recent days does not allow us to remain idle any longer. After consulting representatives of all political parties and technical experts over the past few days, Costa announced new measures last week to combat the spread of cases. This strategy relies on face masks (once again mandatory in enclosed spaces), vaccination certificates (required for entry to restaurants, hotels, events with assigned seating, and gyms), and tests (required for entry to care homes, hospitals, and large sporting or cultural events without assigned seating).

Tests will also be required for those travelling to Portugal by air. In this context, Costa sharply criticised the airlines, accusing them of failing to verify whether passengers were travelling with a vaccination passport or a test. «Airlines are obliged to only allow passengers with proof on board, and we have seen that they have not complied with this. Therefore, we will introduce fines of up to 20,000 euros for every passenger who disembarks without a test.«, Costa stated. In serious cases, the penalty for some companies can extend to the revocation of their operating license. «It is an act of the deepest irresponsibility to transport people who have not been tested. We want to keep the borders and civil aviation open, but it is your duty to ensure the safety of travellers«, he said at the press conference. To strengthen controls at Portuguese airports, Costa announced that private security companies would be commissioned to check the access of all passengers. Those who disembark without the corresponding certificate or test will be returned to their place of origin.

He compared the situation from Thursday (3,150 new infections, 691 hospitalisations, 103 admissions to intensive care and 15 deaths) with that of 25 November 2020 (5,290 cases, 3,251 hospitalisations, 517 admissions to intensive care and 71 deaths).

We have learned enough in these two years to know what we can do and what we should not do. That is why I hope that we will all avoid what we should not do. That is the first prerequisite for us to succeed in containing this pandemic and for these measures to be sufficient to curb the current growth.

Prime Minister António Costa