Portugal on Monday rolled back coronavirus measures, including reopening shopping centres, high schools and universities and allowing indoor dining, after new infections eased off.
This is the third step of four in a gradual lifting of restrictions that began in mid-March, following two months of lockdown that helped stem a third wave of the pandemic.
The lifting of measures began with the reopening of primary schools a month ago, followed at the start of April by secondary schools and outdoor service for cafes and restaurants.
Eateries are now allowed to serve indoors, and auditoriums in the country can also open.
On Friday, Portugal lifted a suspension on flights to and from Britain and Brazil for “essential trips”, including “professional reasons, studies, family reunions, health or humanitarian reasons”.
But controls at the Spanish border will be maintained for at least 15 more days, along with a requirement for travellers to present a negative Covid test.
Lisbon will also continue to require visitors from countries with an infection rate above 500 cases per 100,000 inhabitants to follow a two-week quarantine.
Among these countries are Brazil and South Africa, as well as France and the Netherlands.
The last phase of the lockdown easing will happen in two weeks — including the resumption of public outdoor events — if the health situation improves, the government said Monday.
Portugal has also begun vaccinating school teachers with nearly 170,000 teachers and other school staff receiving jabs over the weekend.
Home to some 10 million people, Portugal has administered about 2.5 million doses of the Covid vaccine with 650,000 receiving a second shot.
The number of new Covid-19 cases detected each day in Portugal has stabilised around 500 infections a day, compared to a peak of nearly 13,000 at the end of January.
© Agence France-Presse
