After several months in the "orange" - and without ever having gone "green" like many of the countries of the European Union (EU) - mainland Portugal has now gone "red" (high risk) in ECDC's indicator maps combined, covering case notification rates in the last 14 days, number of tests performed, and total positives, which are updated weekly on Thursday.

The category "red" means that, in these regions, the cumulative rate of notification of cases of infection in the last 14 days varies from 75 to 200 per 100,000 inhabitants or is greater than 200 and less than 500 per 100,000 inhabitants and the rate of test positivity is 4 percent or more.

The Azores and Madeira are the only regions in Portugal that are not in the "red", with the Azorean archipelago in the "orange" - referring to territories where the notification rate of new infections is 50 to 75 per 100 thousand inhabitants in the last 14 days or between 75 and 200 per 100,000 inhabitants and the test positivity rate is 1 percent or 4 percent or more, respectively and Madeira being the only 'green' region (less than 50 new cases and a positivity rate of less than 4 percent , or less than 75 cases but with a positivity rate of less than 1 percent).

Last February, and due to the high numbers of infections, Portugal was even in the “dark red” category of ECDC maps, used for areas where the virus is circulating at very high levels. These maps from the European agency follow a system of traffic lights on the propagation of covid-19 in the EU, starting with green (favorable situation), passing through orange, red and dark red (very dangerous situation), and serve as an aid to State members on the restrictions to apply to travel within the community space, which means that whoever travels from Portugal may be subjected to tests and quarantines on arrival in other European countries, and this is always a national decision.

Yesterday's update of ECDC, already in the middle of the tourist season, comes after Germany earlier this month classified Portugal as an area with “concern variants”, namely due to the spread of the Delta strain, and France, on Wednesday, having advised against non-essential trips to Portugal, as well as Spain. In today's updated EU map, only Cyprus is in the “dark red”, but practically all of Spain is now also in the “red”, with the exception of Galicia and Castilla La Mancha. In mid-June, the EU Council adopted a recommendation for a coordinated approach to travel, proposing that vaccinated and recovered from covid-19 should not be subjected to restrictive measures such as quarantines or testing.