At a press conference, the president of the regional executive also announced that the Regional Government will evaluate the resumption of air connections operated by SATA to mainland Portugal in June.

Thus, next Friday, inter-island air and sea connections will be resumed, "especially in the central group", he said.

This is a “situation that, in a first phase, will be done in a progressive way, which naturally dispenses with some of the procedures that currently exist, in terms of authorizations, but which will be done gradually”, said Vasco Cordeiro, who spoke after a meeting with several agents of the tourism sector and with the regional secretaries of Transport and Public Works and of Energy, Environment and Tourism.

Thus, flights to all the islands of the Azores are resumed, as well as the regular operation of maritime transport, which, since the connecting routes between Flores and Corvo have already been resumed, concern only the central group.

Atlânticoline's seasonal operation, which usually takes place in the summer with a reinforcement of the fleet, remains cancelled.

Regarding connections with the outside world, the head of the regional executive said that, “as far as the SATA group is concerned”, the possibility of “reactivating the first 15 days, three weeks of June” is being evaluated” the operations, also gradually, resuming, in the first place, the connection to mainland Portugal, also advancing that they hope, “also in the connections with the outside” power, “throughout the month of June, to have the reactivation of this service”.

The President of the Regional Government clarified that the security procedures at the entrance to the region remain in effect, “above all in the relationship between connections abroad and connections to other islands”, and that “there is a permanent monitoring work in relation to what will happen with this opening, with the greatest movement of people”.

Stressing that this step was taken “safely”, it does not rule out the possibility of “eventually going backwards”.

“We are not talking about the need to go back, if, perhaps, and it is likely to happen, another positive case arises. More than the question of having a positive case, for us, what is essential is the ability to determine the contagion chain, to isolate, to test, to, in the end, to have the situation under control”, he said.

To date, Ryanair and SATA are not operating between the continent and the region, but TAP continues to have connections, albeit to a lesser extent than usual, between Lisbon and Ponta Delgada and Lisbon and Terceira.

So far, a total of 146 infection cases have been detected in the region, with 122 recovered, 16 deaths and eight active positive cases for infection with the new SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes covid-19 disease: seven on the island of São Miguel and one on the island of Pico.