Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa sent to Parliament today the renewal of the State of Emergency lasting between 9 and 23 December. The document will be debated and voted at 3 pm on Friday in Parliament.
But the President also announced the renewal of this EdE until January 7 to allow the Government to regulate now the rules that will be in force for Christmas and New Year, with the aim of the Portuguese being able to know what to expect in the festive season in order to be able to organize your life in advance. The Government meets on Saturday, the day when it announces the measures that will be in force during the festive season.
“After hearing the Government, which gave a favorable statement this evening, the President of the Republic has just sent the Assembly of the Republic, for its authorization, the draft diploma renewing, for a period of 15 days, until December 23, state of emergency for the entire national territory ”, can be read in the statement of the Palace of Belém.
The Presidency also announced a “new renewal until January 7, allowing the Government to adopt measures necessary to contain the spread of the Covid-19 disease and to announce measures already planned for the Christmas and New Year periods”, with the Government giving its “Agreement” in effect until January 7.
But to renew the document from December 24 to January 7, it will be necessary to repeat the legislative process: “new presidential Decree, preceded by an opinion from the Government and authorization by the Assembly of the Republic, in a few days”.
The presidential decree published today is similar to the previous one, providing for the imposition of the “necessary restrictions” in the municipalities with “higher levels of risk” in order to “reduce the risk of contagion and implement measures to prevent and combat the epidemic, and should the measures to be adopted must be calibrated according to the risk level of each municipality, and, for this purpose, they can be grouped according to the data and assessment of the competent authorities, including the ban on driving on public roads during certain periods of the day or certain days of the week ”.
The restrictions must allow circulation that allows the “obtaining of health care, to support third parties, namely the elderly, including sheltered in residential structures, for the attendance of educational establishments, for the production and supply of goods and services and for the displacement for other ponderous reasons, and it is up to the Government, in this event, to specify the situations and purposes in which the freedom of individual movement, preferably unaccompanied, remains ”.
Then, the document also foresees that “compulsory confinement in a health establishment, at home or not, can be imposed, if possible, in another place defined by the competent authorities” of people infected with Covid or under surveillance.
The decree again provides that public authorities can use the “resources, means and establishments providing integrated health care in the private, social and cooperative sectors, with fair compensation, depending on what is necessary to ensure the treatment of patients with Covid- 19 or the maintenance of assistance activity in relation to other pathologies ”.
Once again, it is possible to impose the use of a mask and the performance of body temperature controls, by non-invasive means, as well as the performance of diagnostic tests for SARS-CoV-2 for the purposes of access and stay at the site or as a condition of access to public services or institutions, educational or vocational training establishments and commercial, cultural or sports spaces, in the use of means of transport or in relation to persons institutionalized or accommodated in residential structures, health establishments, establishments prisons or educational centers and their workers ”.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also establishes that “it is the responsibility of the Armed and Security Forces to support health authorities and services, namely in conducting epidemiological inquiries, tracking contacts and following people under active surveillance”.
There is also the possibility of mobilizing the “resources, means and establishments for the provision of health care by the Armed Forces and Security to support and strengthen the National Health Service”.
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