“The end of curfew can be taken for granted”, said Miguel Albuquerque, at the opening session of the 8th Annual Meeting of the Madeira Chemistry Center, in Funchal.

The president of the Madeiran government, of the PSD/CDS-PP coalition, indicated that the effects of the procession of the Flower Festival, which brought together thousands of people on the marginal avenues of Funchal, on Sunday, are still being evaluated, as well as the reopening of the school year, which involves around 40,000 students, 6,500 teachers and 5,000 technicians and employees in 154 public and private schools.

“On Thursday, we think we will be in a position to take a set of decisions, with new measures to ease restrictions as of Friday,” said Miguel Albuquerque.

In the Autonomous Region of Madeira, commercial establishments are required to close at 01:00 and the curfew is in effect between 02:00 and 05:00.

According to the most recent data from the Regional Health Directorate, the archipelago, with about 251,000 inhabitants, has 117 active cases of Covid-19, a total of 11,791 confirmed since the beginning of the pandemic, and 75 deaths associated with the disease.

Regarding the Madeira Chemistry Center, Miguel Albuquerque underlined that it is one of the “most prestigious” in the country, working in partnership with several universities and companies.

“It is essential that we continue to understand that one of the pillars of Madeira's development must be the support for science and the qualification of our young people”, he said, adding: “Our idea is to reinforce support in the coming years, in order to improve either research and investigation or collaboration with other world institutions.”

The Madeira Chemistry Center is a research unit that integrates the Regional System for the Development of Research, Technology and Innovation, contributing with its research areas – Health, Quality and Food Safety and Sea Technologies – to the formation of resources human resources, advances in knowledge and support for companies in the region.