For Lisbon restaurateurs, the entry into force of a curfew in Portugal on Monday is a disaster.

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Armando Franca / AP / SIPA

Latest restrictive measure to date for most of Portugal: a curfew, imposed for the first time on Monday.

This decision aimed at curbing the multiplication of cases of coronavirus is considered "catastrophic" by restaurateurs and traders in central Lisbon.

But the country, already under a state of health emergency, had no choice.

"It is impossible to bring the pandemic under control without disrupting people's lives and the economy," Socialist Prime Minister Antonio Costa admitted in an interview with TVI, when the daily toll for the first time exceeded the 60 dead mark.

The number of new daily contaminations, which had tripled in less than a month to reach 6,000 cases on Saturday, fell on Monday to around 4,000.

11 p.m. to 5 a.m. and from 1 p.m. on weekends

From 11 p.m. (local and GMT), more than 7 million Portuguese residing in the 121 municipalities considered "at high risk" had to comply with a "ban on driving on public roads" in force until 5am.

For at least two weeks, this curfew will begin at 1 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays, except for those who work or in cases of force majeure.

"These hours are a disaster for catering," responded Joao Pereira, manager of a small bistro in central Lisbon.

“If we have to close at 1 pm on Saturday, we won't even be able to provide lunch!

», Plague behind his counter this sexagenarian with salt and pepper hair, who hesitates even to open its doors on Saturday morning.

"There are no more customers, the streets are empty"

As the curfew time approached, the streets of the city center became more and more deserted and silent, even if a few cars continued to circulate.

“Life will be more complicated for us and unemployment will increase… There are no more customers, the streets are empty,” lamented Diogo Marques, a 31-year-old waiter, before starting to tidy up the tables. 'a terrace located in a pedestrianized street usually animated by its theaters and bistros.

“Tonight I served only one dinner.

It is a plague!

», Said Antonio de Sousa, owner of an emblematic restaurant in the Baixa district, which has already had to lay off half of the staff he employed before the epidemic.

"I will be forced to launch promotions earlier than expected," testified during the day Maria José, who runs a women's clothing store.

"We will not save the season but we hope to limit the damage," sighs this 52-year-old trader who has helplessly witnessed a sharp drop in the number of customers since the start of this second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

121 “high risk” municipalities

The inhabitants of 121 “high risk” municipalities, which include in particular Lisbon, Porto (north) and their suburbs, had already been invited since Wednesday to telework, in the name of a “civic duty of home confinement”.

Unlike the spring confinement, schools remain open, as do restaurants, shops or cultural spaces, even if they have had to bring their closing times forward.

With more than 2,500 people hospitalized, including almost 400 in intensive care, Portuguese hospitals are under pressure that has clearly exceeded that they had experienced in the spring, because the country was then completely confined early.

Temperature controls in access to certain premises

Sunday, the Order of Physicians called on the population to respect the measures in force to "avoid the saturation of the national health service".

Shortly after making it compulsory to wear a mask in the street, the socialist government decided to impose a new partial and light confinement, then to declare a state of health emergency.

Beyond the curfew, the state of emergency allows it to require temperature checks or the performance of tests in access to certain premises, and mobilize officials such as soldiers or teachers to strengthen the teams contact tracing facilities.

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  • Health

  • Portugal

  • Coronavirus

  • Covid 19

  • Lisbon