No ban on entering/leaving Lisbon this weekend

The ban on entering and leaving the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (AML) at the weekend, as part of restrictive measures related to the Covid-19 pandemic, will no longer apply, the government announced on Thursday.

“Having conditions to use the digital certificate, we seek to simplify some restrictions that existed to economic activity, since the closure [of restaurants] at 3h30 p.m. in the municipalities [of risk of contagion of covid-19] high and very high, but also the ban on entry and exit in the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon,” said the Minister of the Presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, at the end of the weekly cabinet meeting in Lisbon.

The Metropolitan Area of Lisbon covers 18 municipalities of Greater Lisbon and the Setúbal Peninsula, namely Alcochete, Almada, Amadora, Barreiro, Cascais, Lisbon, Loures, Mafra, Moita, Montijo, Odivelas, Oeiras, Palmela, Seixal, Sesimbra, Setúbal, Sintra and Vila Franca de Xira.

Over the last three weekends, this ban was applied between 3h00 p.m. on Friday and 06h00 a.m. on Monday, with the exceptions provided by law.

Among these was the possibility of entering and leaving the AML with a PCR test, done in the last 72 hours, or an antigen test, done in the last 48 hours, or presentation of a digital certificate. Self-tests, those sold in pharmacies to be performed by the user himself, were not available for this purpose.

Health reasons or imperative urgency, as well as travel to perform professional or equivalent functions were also exceptions.