The Prime Minister said today that, for now, the situation of calamity should remain in 19 parishes in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and that there is no reason to raise the level of alert in general for the country.

This position was transmitted by António Costa at the end of a two-hour meeting with the Mayor of Sintra, Basílio Horta, in which the executive leader was accompanied by the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, and by the Secretary of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Duarte Cordeiro, who is also the Government coordinator for the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region to combat the covid-19.

“I do not anticipate that the classification status of the different parts of the country will change in the next fortnight. The good news is that for now nothing indicates that we have to raise the level of alert that prevails in most of the country,” he said.

Regarding the Lisbon Metropolitan Area as a whole, the Prime Minister admitted the possibility of “some evolution”.

“We will see, but there is still more than a week” to make the decision, he said.

Regarding 19 parishes in the municipalities of Sintra, Amadora, Lisbon, Loures and Odivelas, which are in a state of calamity, António Costa said the following: “For the moment, I do not anticipate that there are conditions to move forward in order to reduce the degree classification of the state of exception “.

Before the journalists, the Prime Minister referred that, after today’s meetings in Sintra and Amadora, he will also have identical meetings with the mayors, health authorities and local security authorities of the municipalities of Odivelas, Loures and Lisbon – the other three counties most affected by the covid-19 pandemic.

“I try to make a local assessment with people who are on the ground, in order to determine how everything is working and how the response has been. Only an integrated response ensures effectiveness in combating the covid-19 pandemic”, he defended.

António Costa considered that it is still too early to draw conclusions about the results of the measures adopted in relation to the areas most affected by the covid-19, “because only one week of application has passed”.

“The numbers indicate that there is a tendency for stabilization and no longer for growth. But it is still early and we should not disarm”, he stressed.

In the case of Sintra, the Prime Minister highlighted measures taken to reinforce the intervention capacity of the security forces and to speed up the speed of testing in order to detect positive cases.

“This is essential to ensure containment. Although the outbreaks are located, they still have a major impact on the overall life of the entire country,” he added.

On the part of the Sintra Chamber, in addition to Basílio Horta, the meeting with the members of the Government and with António Costa, the councilors Eduardo Quinta-Nova and Domingos Quinta, Fernanda Lopes for Social Security, the public health delegate Noémia Gonçalves, the subintendent from PSP António Santos and João Sanches by GNR.