Press conference by Minister of State for internal Administration 3rd April
The Minister of Internal Administration, Eduardo Cabrita, affirmed that “only an even more determined effort will consolidate the positive evolution” of the Covid-19 pandemic in Portugal, bringing the country closer “to a time when one can look beyond this crisis” .
At the press conference after the fifth meeting of the State of Emergency Monitoring Structure, the Minister saluted the Portuguese “for the sense of responsibility, civic and determination” with which they understand that this is a collective battle that requires everyone’s contribution.
Eduardo Cabrita also praised “the way in which the supply chains for food and other essential products have managed to adjust, with a response capacity that never questioned supply to citizens, and how they understood the rules on access to supermarkets, and how others food support establishments have managed to change »to a format compatible with meeting the needs of the population and ensuring essential security».
The Minister reiterated the call for scrupulous respect for the rules of the state of emergency to guarantee the mitigation of the pandemic and contribute to the security of all and to the feeling of collective security.
Eduardo Cabrita warned of the set of very significant restrictions on circulation between 9 and 13 April and underlined that citizens will only be able to move out of their municipality of residence for “imperative reasons of health or urgency, or due to work obligation expressly documented ».
«I appeal to employers to prepare forms of information that allow, whoever has to work on those days and who has to travel for that reason, to be able to prove in a simple way in which activity he works and because, depending on the essential nature of that activity, he will have to move out of his area of residence ”, he added.
Arrests, repatriations and border control
The Minister of Internal Administration also made a situation report of the first period of the state of emergency, noting that there were a total of 108 arrests by the Security Forces, with emphasis on 29 violations of the confinement obligations and 10 attempts to breach the sanitary fence of Ovar, in addition to the most common breaches of obligations to close commercial establishments.
Eduardo Cabrita affirmed that the Security Forces have been doing an active job and fulfilled this task “centered almost entirely on the effort to raise awareness, pedagogy and recommendation”.
The Minister also pointed out that around 75% of the 4000 Portuguese who sought support from the State on their return to the country have already returned, and several steps are still in place – national, through the European Civil Protection Mechanism or in articulation with other countries – which will allow return of the approximately 1000 national citizens still abroad.
The balance of the restoration of land border controls was another fact underlined by Eduardo Cabrita, who said that during these two weeks 132 thousand citizens were checked, with 1126 refusals of border crossing.
“It was possible to guarantee the security and movement of goods, through the principle of the green route for movement of goods and cross-border work”, he added.