Sixteen of the 18 municipalities in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area are among the 33 municipalities at very high risk of Covid-19.

Alcochete, Almada, Amadora, Barreiro, Cascais, Lisbon, Loures, Mafra, Moita, Montijo, Odivelas, Oeiras, Seixal, Sesimbra, Sintra and Vila Franca de Xira are among the municipalities with very high risk of contagion, while Setúbal and Palmela are on the list of municipalities at high risk.

Last week, of the 18 municipalities that make up the AML, 13 (Almada, Amadora, Barreiro, Cascais, Lisbon, Loures, Mafra, Moita, Odivelas, Oeiras, Seixal, Sesimbra and Sintra) were at very high risk and five (Alcochete, Montijo, Setúbal, Palmela and Vila Franca de Xira) at high risk.

As for the Porto Metropolitan Area (AMP), comprising 17 municipalities, last week only Porto was on the high risk list.

A week later, Porto sees new lockdown measures being put in place as it becomes a very high risk area along with Santo Tirso.

As for the remaining municipalities in the AMP, three are now at high risk: Matosinhos, Trofa and Vila Nova de Gaia.

In the Algarve, of the 16 municipalities that make up the region, more than half (9) continue to be at high or very high risk, similarly to last week, but with some moving to the highest risk level.

With the update of the risk map, two Algarve municipalities are at high risk, which are Lagoa and Portimão, which were in this situation last week, and seven are at very high risk, with Albufeira, Loulé and Olhão remaining in the category but Faro, Lagos, São Brás de Alportel and Silves now join also.

Compared to last week, the remaining seven municipalities in the Algarve, namely Alcoutim, Aljezur, Castro Marim, Monchique, Tavira, Vila do Bispo and Vila Real de Santo António, continue to be outside the high or very high risk levels, but the most are on alert, with the exception of Alcoutim and Aljezur.

As for the 18 district capitals in mainland Portugal, three are at very high risk, which are Faro, Lisbon and Porto; five are at high risk, namely Aveiro, Braga, Santarém, Setúbal and Viseu; and two are on alert, namely Coimbra and Leiria.

The remaining eight district capitals – Beja, Bragança, Castelo Branco, Évora, Guarda, Portalegre, Viana do Castelo and Vila Real – are outside the covid-19 incidence risk map.

The very high risk level is applied to municipalities that register, for the second consecutive assessment, an incidence rate of Covid-19 higher than 240 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days (or higher than 480 if they are municipalities with low population density) , while the high risk applies to those who register, for the second consecutive evaluation, an incidence rate above 120 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days (or above 240 if they are municipalities with low population density).

With no impact on easing of lockdown measures, the alert situation is for the municipalities that register, for the first time, an incidence rate above 120 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days (or above 240 if they are municipalities with low population density).

What are the rules?

Among the measures aimed at high and very high risk municipalities is the application of a curfew and the restriction of circulation on public roads, daily, between 23:00 and 05:00.

In addition to this mandatory curfew, the Government has also decided that in the 60 municipalities at high and very high risk, for access to restaurants for indoor dining services, a digital certificate of vaccination or negative test for Covid-19 is now required, a measure that applies on Fridays from 7pm and all day on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.

“This rule comes into effect at 3:30 pm on Saturday, July 10th,” according to government information.

Across the mainland, the requirement of a digital certificate or negative test is also required for access to tourist establishments and local accommodation.

With the update of the risk map, the 233 of the 278 municipalities in mainland Portugal that were in the phase with less restrictions last week, in force since June 10, have now been reduced to 218, following the increase from 45 to 60 of the number of municipalities with the highest risk of incidence.

Among the rules for the 33 very high risk councils are: mandatory teleworking when functions allow; permission to operate restaurants, cafes and patisseries until 22:30 (inside with a maximum of four people per group and on terraces with a maximum of six people per group); cultural shows until 22:30; gyms without group classes; weddings and baptisms with 25% of the capacity; operation of retail trade for food until 9:00 pm on weekdays and until 7:00 pm on weekends and holidays, and non-food retail trade until 9:00 pm on weekdays and until 3:30 pm on weekends and holidays.

The rules applicable to the 27 high-risk councils are mandatory telework when activities allow; possibility of opening restaurants, cafes and patisseries until 22:30 (inside with a maximum of six people per group and on a terrace with 10 people per group); cultural shows until 22:30; and possibility of operation of the food and non-food retail trade until 21:00.

Information about all of the restrictions and measures is available here: https://covid19estamoson.gov.pt/

In the current phase of the easing of lockdown plan, which entered into force on June 10 and which now applies to 218 of the 278 municipalities in mainland Portugal, teleworking is recommended in activities that allow it, commerce can work with the respective licensing schedule. , restaurants, cafes and patisseries can be open until midnight for admission of customers and 01:00 for closing (maximum of six people inside or 10 people on terraces), and cultural facilities can be open until 01:00 (access being excluded, for entrance purposes, from 00:00), with concert halls limited to a capacity of 50%.

Other rules that apply in this new stage are that public transport can circulate with a capacity of two-thirds or with the entire capacity if they have only seating positions (taxis and transport vehicles in uncharacterized vehicles from electronic platforms - TVDE - with capacity limited to the rear seats), the capacity for weddings and baptisms continues to be limited to 50% of the space, and sports can now have a public in the case of amateur sports, with marked seats and restricted capacity to 33% of the space.