Lisbon trade may resume opening hours before the Covid-19 pandemic
The opening hours practised before the pandemic for all retail and service establishments, including those in shopping centres, are re-established.
Trade in the city of Lisbon, including shopping centres, may resume from Friday the opening hours before the Covid-19 pandemic, but the cafes will have to close at 9 p.m., as announced.
According to a note from the Lisbon City Council, the opening hours practised before the pandemic for all retail and service establishments, including those in shopping centres, are re-established.
Restaurants and similar establishments, including those with home delivery or take-away, continue to operate under the rules in force, i.e. they may admit customers until midnight and close at 1 a.m.
Cafes and the like, including those in shopping centres, as well as convenience stores, may, when their opening hours allow, close at 9 p.m.
The Lisbon City Council stated that petrol stations may also resume their pre-pandemic opening hours, although the sale of alcoholic beverages is still prohibited.
“Any breach of these rules by any establishment will lead to the revocation of the reinstatement of opening hours,” reads the municipal council’s note, stating that, “as hitherto”, the municipal police will continue to monitor daily compliance with the schedules and rules decreed by the Directorate-General of Health.
Last week, the cabinet meeting decided to grant the mayors of the 18 municipalities in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML), which remains in a state of contingency due to the Covid-19 pandemic, permission to change the opening hours of commercial establishments, a power that had been taken away from the municipalities in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The decision of the cabinet meeting allows municipalities to make changes in the opening hours of commercial establishments, following the opinion of the security forces and the local health authority and no longer requires them to open at 10 a.m. and close at 8 p.m.
In the note, the Lisbon City Council justified the change in commercial establishments’ opening hours by improving the epidemiological situation in the municipality, pointing out that there are fewer new daily cases and that most economic agents have adapted their operation to the rules defined by the Directorate-General for Health.
Thus, it is mentioned, the Lisbon City Council said that the conditions for the phased extension of the period of operation of the economic activities of the city are met.
The municipality stated that it decided on this enlargement after obtaining a favourable opinion from the local health authorities and security forces.
However, it added, the importance of maintaining the containment of gatherings and social gatherings that contribute to an increased risk of contagion of the virus, as well as the extension of the period of differentiated operation in some economic activities, has been signalled.
Until now only supermarkets could remain open until 10 p.m. (but without selling alcoholic beverages after 8 p.m.), while restaurants could admit customers until midnight, having to close at 1 a.m.
The 18 municipalities that make up AML are Alcochete, Almada, Amadora, Barreiro, Cascais, Lisbon, Loures, Mafra, Moita, Montijo, Odivelas, Oeiras, Palmela, Seixal, Sesimbra, Setúbal, Sintra and Vila Franca de Xira.
The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed at least 787,918 lives and infected more than 22.4 million people in 196 countries and territories, according to a report by the French agency AFP.
In Portugal, 1,788 people have died out of 54,992 confirmed to be infected, according to the most recent bulletin of the Directorate-General of Health.
