Lusa questioned the Portuguese Environment Agency (APA), which is responsible for leading the technical committee, but at this time they “had nothing to add”.
“When there is any news, we will report it”, indicated the APA, without giving any information about the work in the technical committee for monitoring bathing areas.
One of the 10 entities that make up the technical committee told Lusa that he “received an‘ email ’informing him of the postponement of the meeting scheduled for 6 May,” adding that there was no explanation for the postponement, nor is there a new date.
Without confirmation of the meeting, the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) told Lusa that “there is no date indication”. On 22 April, after another meeting, the national coordinator of the Blue Flag Programme, Catarina Gonçalves, told Lusa that the manual should be ready in the first week of May, incorporating the “capacity” of each beach.
According to the representative, beaches will have a maximum capacity for bathers, which will be calculated taking into account the recommendations of the DGS, such as the distance between people and the use of masks and hygiene procedures.
Catarina Gonçalves admitted that on the beaches it is “much more complicated” to implement these measures, since “you cannot put a yellow ribbon” to define the space used by bathers, so the inspection “will have to be different” and there will need to be a lot of “common sense” on the part of those who go to the beaches
The urban beach fronts are a particular concern for the commission, taking into account that they do not always have a specific entrance and exit.
On 4 May, access to beaches and the sea became possible only for the practice of water sports, according to the new plan approved by the Government.