The country was practically closed for almost two months to contain the spread of the new coronavirus and, after three periods of state of emergency, between March 19 and May 2, Portugal entered a situation of calamity on May 3, when it started the first phase of the reduction in the lockdown with the reopening of street commerce.

The stability of the covid-19 case numbers has led the Government to move on to the second phase of deflation, which happens on Monday.

Restaurants, cafes and pastry shops, which until now could only operate as a 'take-away' or with deliveries, reopen doors, being able to serve customers inside the spaces, with safety standards and maximum capacity reduced to half.

Also on Monday, the terraces reopen, shops with an open door to the street of up to 400 square meters and tourist establishments and local accommodation will be able to offer their drinks and catering services to the outside and not just to their customers.

Students in the 11th and 12th years of secondary school and children from day care centres return to schools, which start to operate with new rules, such as social distance, to minimize the dangers of contagion of the new coronavirus.

According to the Government, all daycare workers were subjected to screening tests. In secondary education, however, there are no tests for the educational community, but students will have to wear masks.

Visits to elderly people in homes will be authorised again from Monday, but the Directorate-General for Health (DGS) has established rules so that this vulnerable group are protected.

The rules include only one visit per week for each elderly person, with a maximum duration of 90 minutes, with prior appointment to ensure sanitation of the facilities between visits, physical distance, mandatory use of a mask for visitors, prohibition of taking objects or food inside and organizing a register of visitors in the institutions.

Museums across the country also reopen on Monday, International Museum Day, with online exhibitions and initiatives, and safety standards, in response to the covid-19 pandemic, which require the use of masks and social distance.

Closed since March 14, museums, palaces, national monuments and art galleries can reopen, within the scope of the Government's deconfiguration program, with hygiene and safety standards adapted to their size.

Also on Monday, driving schools and car inspection centers may reopen, but an exceptional regime remains in force, extending the deadlines of this obligation by five months.

According to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Housing (MIH), the reopening of inspection centers to the public will depend on "compliance with measures of occupation, permanence and physical distance that safeguard users and employees".

According to the tutelage, however, "the exceptional regime of periodic inspection remains in force, according to which motor vehicles and their trailers, light or heavy, which should be presented for periodic inspection in the period running from 13 from March 2020 until June 30, 2020, see their term extended by five months from the date of registration ".

As of Monday, "the teaching of driving in the modalities of theoretical teaching and practical teaching of driving is resumed, as well as the theoretical and practical classroom training of professional certification".

The calamity situation will continue until the end of May.