Supermarkets prohibited from selling alcohol after 8 pm

After the controversy around the closing time of supermarkets and hypermarkets in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, the Government decided to prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages in these spaces between 8 pm and 10 pm.

The novelty is in the Resolution of the Council of Ministers published tonight that declares the situation of calamity (for 19 parishes in five municipalities in Greater Lisbon), contingency (for the Metropolitan Area of ​​Lisbon) and alert (for the rest of the country) from July 1 and for two weeks, in yet another phase of fighting the pandemic.

It is recalled that at the beginning of the week the Government had announced the closing at 20 hours of all trade in the Metropolitan Area of ​​Lisbon, with the exception of restaurants serving meals. It would be one of the measures to contain the Covid-19 outbreaks that appear more in this region and that generated complaints from supermarket companies that feared a concentration of customers in the hours that remained.

However, two days ago, the Prime Minister announced an exception for supermarkets and hypermarkets, which after all may remain open until 10 pm.

Now, the legal text published in Diário da República adds: neither supermarkets nor hypermarkets can sell alcoholic beverages after 8 pm.