“Maintain effort to be free in May,” Portugal’s President says

Portugal’s president on Tuesday said that, according to experts, people will have to maintain confinement in April to take steps towards freedom in May, both in the school system and in economic and social activity.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa spoke to journalists at the end of the third technical meeting on the epidemiological situation of Covid-19 in Portugal.

When asked if schools will reopen in April, he replied: “This can obviously be inferred, they will not open. It is the prime minister who will say it on 9 April, but what the experts said is stay close in April to be able to reopen in May.”

Passing on to the media the experts’ messages, which he said were very clear and very impressive, Sousa said that there was a slow but positive trend in the spread of Covid-19.

“The second idea is that if we want to regain our freedom in May, we need to win it in April. That is, to take steps in April towards a progressive return to normality, not only in the school system but also in economic and social activity, we need to win it in April,” he added.