The new rules mean that there is once again a limit of a gathering of a maximum of 10 people, unless they belong to the same family, “the access, circulation or permanence of people in spaces frequented by the public, as well as the concentrations of people on the public road” in the AML.
“All retail and service establishments, as well as those in commercial units”, are to now close at 8pm in the AML, according to the new resolution approved by the government.
The only exception is restaurants, “exclusively for the purpose of serving meals in the establishment itself”, and also restaurants with a take-away service or home delivery service, “which cannot supply alcoholic beverages within the scope of this activity”.
The sale of alcoholic beverages is also prohibited “in service areas or at fuel filling stations” by AML.
The consumption of alcoholic beverages is also prohibited “in open spaces of public access”, except on the terraces of properly licensed restaurants and drinks establishments, which can only be kept open until 8pm.
The new rules also highlighs the reinforcement of the operational activity of the AML security and service forces and rescue services, which, if necessary, “can be reinforced” by “personnel from other geographical areas, in conjunction with the municipal structure of civil protection”.
“Whoever does not respect any of these four rules, and as a result of the first violation, the crime of disobedience will be determined. The person indicated will be immediately fined,” a government source told Lusa.
AML is integrated by the municipalities of Alcochete, Almada, Amadora, Barreiro, Cascais, Lisbon, Loures, Mafra, Moita, Montijo, Odivelas, Oeiras, Palmela, Seixal, Sesimbra, Setúbal, Sintra and Vila Franca de Xira.
On 25 June, the Government is to approve, in the Council of Ministers, the list of administrative offenses applicable to situations of non-compliance with the containment rules.
The executive will also specify which parishes in the municipalities of Lisbon, Sintra, Amadora, Loures and Odivelas are the target of reinforcement measures in terms of civil protection.
Prime Minister, António Costa, referred to a provisional estimate of 15 parishes in these five municipalities in the northern area of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area.
The Prime Minister met on 22 June in São Bento with the mayors of Lisbon, Fernando Medina, Sintra, Basílio Horta, Loures, Bernardino Soares, Odivelas, Hugo Martins, and Amadora, Carla Tavares, as well as representatives of health authorities.
This meeting, which lasted more than four hours, was also attended by the Ministers of Internal Administration, Eduardo Cabrita, and Minister of Health, Marta Temido, as well as the Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Duarte Cordeiro, who coordinates by the executive the fight against Covid-19 in the region of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo.
Based on the bulletins released by the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) between 7 and 21 June, the municipalities of Amadora, Lisbon, Loures, Odivelas and Sintra accumulated 50.2 percent of the total new cases in this period in Portugal, representing a total of 4,440 .
Sintra, with 695 new infections, was the most affected municipality, followed by Lisbon with 521, Loures with 414, Amadora with 397, and Odivelas with 203.
The numbers in these five counties, which bring together approximately 1.4 million inhabitants, correspond to a ratio of 154 new cases per 100 thousand inhabitants - a value three and a half times higher than that verified throughout the country, which stood at 43.3.
Amadora is, in this indicator, the most affected municipality, with 219 new infections per 100 thousand inhabitants in the last two weeks, ahead of Loures with 196, Sintra with 179, Odivelas with 128, and Lisbon with 103.
The capital is the one that has the record closest to the average of the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon, which added 3,055 new cases in the period analysed (68.8 percent of the total), which corresponds to about 107 per 100 thousand inhabitants, in a region with a population of around 2.8 million.
With 83.1 percent of new infections registered between 7 and 21 June, that is, 3,689, the region of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo presents a ratio of 101 new cases per 100 thousand inhabitants, in a population of approximately 3.6 million.