The Minister of Internal Administration admitted today that all municipalities in the Metropolitan Area of ​​Lisbon are placed “in a contingency situation” and added that the restrictions applied in this area, namely in the opening hours of the establishments, will remain.

“There is no reason today to distinguish these five municipalities [Lisbon, Odivelas, Sintra, Amadora and Loures] from the rest of the Metropolitan Area of ​​Lisbon. This means that the measures must be applied in a transversal, intensive way, throughout the Metropolitan Area ”, said Eduardo Cabrita, at the end of a follow-up meeting of the“ covid-19 prevention and control strategy in the Metropolitan Area of ​​Lisbon ” , with Government and mayors.

Stressing that one cannot “let your guard down” regarding the “very intense surveillance” that has been carried out, the Minister of Internal Affairs forwarded to the Council of Ministers on Thursday a final decision on the possibility of the 19 parishes currently in situations of calamity (located in these five counties) they move to the contingency situation (lowest level).

“We admit that they are all placed in a contingency situation, a situation that today applies to the Metropolitan Area of ​​Lisbon”, he stressed.

The Minister of Internal Administration also said that, in any case, the restrictions that are currently applied in the Metropolitan Area of ​​Lisbon, such as the general closure of commercial establishments at 20:00 – will remain, with the exception of supermarkets, which may operate until 10 pm, and spaces such as pharmacies -, and the maintenance of the prohibition on the consumption of alcoholic beverages on the public road.

The majority of mainland Portugal entered on July 1 in a situation of alert due to the pandemic of covid-19, with the exception of the Metropolitan Area, which passed to the state of contingency.

In this area, which consists of 18 municipalities, 19 parishes in five municipalities – Loures, Amadora, Odivelas, Lisbon and Sintra – remained in a state of calamity.

The 19 parishes that are in a state of calamity are: Santa Clara (Lisbon), the four parishes in the municipality of Odivelas (Odivelas and the parish unions of Pontinha and Famões, Póvoa de Santo Adrião and Olival Basto, and Ramada and Caneças), the six parishes in the municipality of Amadora (Alfragide, Águas Livres, Encosta do Sol, Mina de Água, Venteira and Union of Parishes of Falagueira and Venda Nova), six parishes of Sintra (associations of parishes of Queluz and Belas, Massamá and Monte Abraão , Cacém and São Marcos, Agualva and Mira Sintra, Algueirão-Mem Martins and the parish of Rio de Mouro) and two parishes of Loures (parishes of Sacavém and Prior Velho, and Camarate, Unhos and Apelação).