“There is a beautiful tradition in Portugal, which is that thousands of immigrants visit us, temporarily return to their homes, to their original lands, to see friends and their families. But this year this cannot happen ”, pointed out Augusto Santos Silva, in a video message published on the social platform Twitter, adding that“ the pandemic forces this ”.

The Minister of State and Foreign Affairs also reiterated that the population in Portugal must stay at home to protect themselves and to protect others, "except for essential purposes".

“We have to stay in our homes, which means that our dear emigrants living abroad must stay abroad. They cannot travel to Portugal, ”said the head of Portuguese diplomacy.

Augusto Santos Silva stressed that if emigrants travelled to Portugal, “they would have to be confined, they would have to be isolated”, something that he said “would be very sad”.

The recommendations of the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs follows the line of what was said by the Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, on Wednesday.

The prime minister sought above all to leave a message, with a view to approaching Easter.

Speaking on a SIC entertainment program, António Costa asked people not to "go visit their family and to instead stay at home."

"This is a very tough thing, but I think we need to tell our compatriots who live abroad, in France, Luxembourg or Germany. This year, don't come, stay in the country you are in. Besides, if they come, they can't leave the house," he observed .

In the context of this appeal, the leader of the executive also stressed that "large families will have to be together separately (with each one in their own homes) during the Easter period".

"This is not the year for making big Easter lunches," added the prime minister.