New measures for public services, schools and courts
Given the sharp growth of the new strain of COVID-19 (known as the British strain) in Portugal, the government decided to modify the set of measures adopted last week. As of today, 22 January, public services, schools and courts will be closed for the next 15 days. Measures to support families with children under 12 have also been announced.
As for public services, the Citizen Shops will be closed, with the remaining services operating exclusively by appointment.
As a precaution, the Government has decided to interrupt all teaching activities, without resuming the teleschool. This suspension of face-to-face education will be duly compensated in the school calendar, in a period dedicated to holidays yet to be defined.
The deadlines for all non-urgent proceedings in the courts are also suspended.
Measures to support families
As was the case in the first confinement in March 2020, a set of measures was approved to support families with children under 12:
- parents will have justified absences from work if they are not teleworking
- childcare schools will remain open for children under 12 whose parents work on essential services and cannot be at home with their children
- food support is ensured for all children who benefit from school social action
- activities concerning early intervention and support for children with special educational needs will not be interrupted.
Portugal discontinues flights to and from the United Kingdom
The Government has also decided to discontinue all flights to and from the UK from midnight on Saturday, 23 January in order to reduce the risk of contagion on the basis of the new strain. Only flights of a humanitarian nature are provided for the repatriation of Portuguese citizens wishing to return to Portugal or of British citizens wishing to return to the United Kingdom.
Borders remain open, but pandemic control measures remain in place for other countries.
These measures are additional to and do not replace the previous ones.
See the initial confinement measures which came into force on 15 January.
As of 20 January, measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic have been reinforced.
