The Portuguese government decided to bring forward the period when remote working will be mandatory to 25 December, Prime Minister António Costa announced on Tuesday.
“[We decided] on the beginning of next week, to 00:00 of 25 December to start the measures that we had intended for the week of containment and, therefore, from 00:00 on 25 December remote working becomes mandatory,” said Costa at the end of the extraordinary cabinet meeting which approved additional measures to contain the spread of COVID-19.
With the country entering a state of emergency on 1 December, it was decided that remote work would be recommended again except for during Christmas.
The closure of nightclubs and bars with dancing space that the government set for the mainland in the first week of January will be brought forward to 25 December the government also decided on Tuesday.
Costa said that businesses would have support under the furlough system and the Apoiar programme.
Currently, bars and discos – which reopened in October for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal, after 19 months of being closed – are only accessible with the presentation of a negative test (antigen or PCR) or a recovery certificate, even for people vaccinated against SARS-CoV-2.
According to the Directorate-General of Health, customers do not have to wear masks in these spaces, unlike workers.
(Lucília Tiago | Lusa)
