Government gives assent to a new state of emergency

The government has given assent to the state of emergency proposed by the President of Portugal, after a series of hearings with parliamentary parties this Monday. The information was confirmed by the Presidency of the Council of Ministers to ECO.

As previously revealed, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa intends to extend the state of emergency for only seven days, between January 8 and 15, so that in the next renewal it will already be possible to consider the impact of the Christmas and New Year period on the measures to be adopted in order to prevent the spread of SARS-CoV-2 infection in Portugal.

Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa is expected to unveil the presidential decree renewing the state of emergency later today. On Wednesday, the Parliament will discuss the report on the state of emergency implemented during December 9-23. MEPs will then discuss and vote on the request for authorisation to renew the seven-day-long state of emergency.

This seven-day renewal should maintain the same measures that have been in place in recent weeks, except for the Christmas and New Year period. In practice, there is a curfew for all regions, but it is longer in municipalities with a very high and extremely high risk. There, the ban on movement on public roads applies between 11 pm and 5 am during the week and, from 1 pm, on Saturdays and Sundays.