90 municipalities require Covid-19 test or certificate in restaurants

  • Lusa
  • 15 July 2021

Now in 90 municipalities, indoor dining service in restaurants from 7h00 p.m. on Friday and over the weekend can only be provided to customers with a Covid-19 digital certificate or a negative test.

The number of municipalities in Portugal that require a digital certificate or Covid-19 test to enter restaurants, as of 7h00 p.m. on Fridays and weekends, rises to 90.

The spread of the incidence rate of cases of Covid-19 increased the list of municipalities considered to be at high risk for presenting for two consecutive weeks incidence rates above 120 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (or above 240 in low-density municipalities) from 60 to 90.

In this situation, the new list of municipalities was announced by the minister of the presidency, Mariana Vieira da Silva, at the end of Thursday’s cabinet meeting.

There are now 43 municipalities at high risk (a week ago, there were 27), while the number of municipalities at very high risk increased from 33 to 47.

Under the rules approved last week, indoor dining service in restaurants from 7h00 p.m. on Friday and over the weekend can only be provided to customers with a Covid-19 digital certificate or a negative test.

Four types of tests are accepted: PCR and antigen tests with laboratory results and self-tests done in person (at the establishment’s entrance) or in front of a health professional.

To speed up the access to self-tests, the cabinet meeting approved on Thursday a decree-law that lets them be sold in supermarkets.

This situation allows restaurants in municipalities of high or very high risk to remain open until 11h30 p.m. at weekends and on holidays.

Tourist accommodation now also requires guests to provide a digital certificate or a negative testis when they check-in, but in this case, throughout the mainland.

Asked how the sector had received the measures, Minister Mariana Vieira da Silva said that the measures the cabinet approved had already been the subject of a debate with the sector, so they were not unknown, since they had been preceded by a preparatory dialogue, noting, however, that the measures require time to act.

She also said that an assessment of the impact of the new measures could only be made 15 days after they had been applied, as this was the time needed to verify their impact.

The number of municipalities required to adopt or maintain the telework regime also increased from 60 to 90.