Masks remain mandatory only in transportation, hospitals and homes
By Pedro Zagacho Goncalves |
1:50 pm
• Photo: Lusa
Marta Temedo
A digital certificate is no longer mandatory for home and hospital visits.
After a cabinet meeting, Health Minister Marta Temido spoke to the country on Thursday to announce new rules regarding anti-Covid-19 measures, and more specifically regarding mask use in enclosed spaces. The mask is now only mandatory in homes, hospitals or other structures with a large presence/wealth of seniors, or in enclosed spaces with a large concentration of people, such as on public transportation.
Masks are no longer mandatory in schools. According to the government, the new measures should come into effect on Saturday, after they were issued by the President of the Republic and subsequently published in the Diario da Republica newspaper.
Marta Temedo began assessing the numbers of the epidemic, noting that the goal for the fall of the mask would be “20 deaths per million inhabitants within 14 days.” At the moment the index is at 27.9.
Marta Temedo emphasized: “The number of patients in the hospital is well below the reference value, but we have not yet reached the ideal number. However, deaths from all causes in our country are within the expected values for this time of year” .. “We are not at the ideal level , but we understand to assume transparently that the course allows, at this moment, to change the framework. We may seasonally have to take measures in different directions”, admitted the Minister of Health.
Then he reported that “the use of masks is not mandatory except in places frequented by people who are particularly at risk, homes, hospitals, integrated care, health services, and places characterized by frequent use, lack of ventilation, or large number of people.”
Marta Temedo also clarified that it is no longer mandatory to provide a digital certificate in visits to homes and hospitals, and in all other modalities, as well as that there are no longer rules for conducting diagnostic tests for Covid-19: they begin to happen in cases determined by the General Directorate of Security and health authorities.
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