Key Points of New Restrictions.

Thanks to Antonio Lamas for these key points from this afternoons conference, and the change in restrictions.

Summary of key points in this afternoons conference:

– general commerce including shopping mall open from Monday with restrictions (everyone must use a mask inside the shop). The entries will be controlled and in the shopping malls, there will be circuits to prevent people from crossing/face each other, eg, different entrance and exit doors, etc.

– Restaurants, bars, cafe´s and gyms to remain closed, this will be evaluated on a weekly basis, if things remain controlled with openings above then there will be confidence to open everything else.

– Hotels to remain closed, no perspective to get them open again although there is the perspective of opening them up in Summer for “domestic” tourism

– All schools including nursery to remain closed at least up to 1st of June.

– Mandatory quarantine for everyone arriving in the island from the outside will still remain in the next few weeks, Although some airlines are selling flights from the 18th of May Albuquerque believes most of those flights will not occur due to the lack of passengers. People who make a certified negative test up to 72hrs before departure can quarantine at their residence.

Madeira will maintain, for now, restrictions on the number of passengers that can disembark, which remains at 100 per week. Lifting of these restrictions will have to be “well balanced”, adding that “the easing of the borders cannot be seen in the same way” Funchal – Lisbon will have different restrictions to Lisbon – Funchal.

– Beaches (sea access) should be open but everything depending on how the outbreak progresses with loosening restrictions. Swimming complexes with pools like Lido found to be a “complex” issue but being analyzed by authorities.

I guess things could change weekly, and hopefully, if we continue with no new cases, and those that are still active are controlled, we should see fewer and fewer active cases on the island as patients recover.