Experts, politicians and social partners meet today, for the seventh time, at Infarmed,  in Portugal, on the eve of the Council of Ministers deciding on the third phase of deflation.

The presentation session on the “epidemiological situation of covid-19 in Portugal” is an initiative of the Prime Minister, António Costa, to which is joined by the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Eduardo Ferro Rodrigues, as well as leaders of political parties with parliamentary seats, employers’ confederations and union structures, as well as State councilors – the latter by videoconference – to hear the experts.

This is the seventh meeting of this kind, in which the data related to the first two phases of deflation will be presented and analyzed, the day before the Council of Ministers meets to decide on the third phase of reopening, scheduled for June 1.

At the end of the sixth meeting, on May 14, the President of the Republic stated that Portugal has registered a “very contained deflation”, which does not yet allow “firm conclusions” about the gradual reopening of activities and establishments closed due to the covid-19.

“The deflation in Portugal, which started on May 3, was a very restrained deflation. The Portuguese were sensitive to what they were asked to open in small steps, so the vast majority continued to be very restrained. which means that we don’t have a lot of data that allows us to draw firm conclusions “, then Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa declared to journalists.

The head of state then considered it essential to continue the tune “between those who have to decide and the Portuguese”, whose behavior will determine the balance between opening and controlling the pandemic.

The following day, at the end of the Council of Ministers during which the reopening measures of the second phase of deflation (which started on the 18th) were approved, the Prime Minister stated that the results of the first deflation measures, taken 15 days rather, they were positive in combating the spread of covid-19, with no reason to postpone a new step in the reopening of activities.

According to the Prime Minister, in view of the data previously known about the evolution of the pandemic in Portugal, the Government concluded that the first measures of deflation that came into effect in early May did not change “the tendency to control” the spread of the new coronavirus .

According to information from the Presidency of the Republic’s agenda, the technical presentations for today’s session will be made by epidemiologists from the Directorate-General for Health (DGS), from the National Health Institute Doctor Ricardo Jorge (INSA), from the Public Health Institute of University of Porto (ISPUP) and the National School of Public Health (ENSP).