The Portuguese government has decided to stop COVID-related restrictions on weekend movement in an out of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area as of today.
The restriction has been in effect for the previous three weekends. It’s unclear whether that did the trick in stopping the spread of the virus, however, as the number of new cases has continued climbing over the past three weeks, reaching their highest on Wednesday, according to the last data available from Direção-Geral da Saúde (DGS – Directorate-General of Health). This is the highest number of cases reported since early February — and more than half of them are in Lisbon and Tejo Valley.
What’s more, Público reports that the restrictions on travel in an out of the Lisbon Metropolitan Area during the weekends… coincided in an increase such travel during weekdays.
The 23h curfew, however, appears to be working: 90% of Portugese residents complied with the curfew, Público writes, citing data from the consulting firm PSE.
