"The Council of Ministers approved a resolution that extends the situation of calamity throughout the mainland national territory until 11:59pm on 31 August 2021 and changes the measures applicable," says the statement released after the meeting of the Council of Ministers on the new deconfinement plan.

The disaster situation, the highest level of response to catastrophic situations provided for in the Civil Protection Framework Law, came into force on 1 May and has been renewed every fortnight.

The current calamity situation ended on 8 August, but the executive decided on 30 July to extend it until 31 August.

The Government defined the new deconfinement plan, consisting of three phases that follow the expected pace of the vaccination plan against Covid-19.

Since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, 17,330 people have died in Portugal and 963,446 cases of infection have been recorded.