António Costa said that the Government had already decided to “significantly strengthen” the control of Portuguese borders, noting that since December 1, more than 600,000 passengers had been inspected and fines were applied to 1,400 passengers and 38 airlines for lack of testing.

Passengers traveling to Portugal must present, in addition to the Covid digital certificate, a negative SARS-CoV-2 test.

Between December 1 and 19, the PSP and SEF inspected 652,833 passengers and 6,249 flights, which resulted in 1,434 administrative infractions.

Of the 1,434 infraction notices, 845 were raised by the PSP, which controls passengers from flights originating in the Schengen area, and 589 by SEF, which supervises travellers from countries outside the Schengen area (outside Europe).