Algarve Situation Report Monday 27th July 2020
The President kept his promise to visit the Home of Santa Casa da Misericórdia in Boliqueime.
The visit took place yesterday afternoon, in the presence of the home director, the Mayor of Loulé – Vítor Aleixo, the Secretary of State for Fisheries and Coordinator of the response to the pandemic by covid.19 in the Algarve, José Apolinário and the District Commander Civil Protection, Vaz Pinto, among other entities.
The Boliqueime home registered an outbreak of covid-19 in early April, with dozens of infected users and employees (40), and 5 fatalities among users.
The President of the Republic, assumed that “it was an honour and a pleasure” to have visited the home for the first time, leaving the promise that he will return, “when we all take off our masks”.
Between selfies and many nods, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was toasted by the directors of the home and by the parish priest of Boliqueime who offered an image of the patron saint, São Sebastião.
Then, the President went on foot to the Mother Church, where he attended a mass. From 8:00 pm, he met with the mayors of the Algarve at a working dinner in a restaurant in Querença, also in the municipality of Loulé.
This is the third visit that the head of state has made to the Algarve this month, after Vila Real de Stº António and Lagos.
President of the Republic meets community representatives in Loule
Yesterday President Safe Communities Portugal David Thomas attended small group meeting in Loulé with the President of the Republic Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa to discuss Covid-19.
The meeting lasted two hours and the president gave his view on various social, economic and political issues concerning both Portugal and overseas, concerning the pandemic.
Safe Communities were able to ask a number of questions reflecting feedback we had received from the foreign community over the last 4 months. We wish to thank the Mayor of Loulé Vitor Aleixo for his very kind invitation.
The President said, I had a meeting with the British community that lives here in Loulé and there was a great effort on their part to do everything, to the extent of their possibilities, to show how they are received, how they live here, how they like to live here, how they want to work for the good relationship between the two countries. Naturally, in the economic part, in the business part, but also in the personal part “, he revealed.
“This is very important, because diplomacy is not just about ambassadors, ministers, governments and heads of state. It is made of people. And the people who live here – and there are many, almost 50 thousand – know the Algarve very well, since the vast majority live here. They know what the reality is, they present the reality and that has a lot of strength to convince, to persuade, first, their compatriots and, later, the political leaders, he reinforced.
In addition to the community residing in this Algarve municipality, there are others working proactively to lift restrictions. The Head of State even spoke of mayors “who are making videos and testimonies of those who live here reach British society. It all helps a lot, it takes time, but it helps”.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa was also hopeful that restrictions on flights from Portugal would be lifted by the United Kingdom even before the end of the summer.
“We all expect that and we are working to make it happen. Summer only ends in September. It would be bad if they are not lifted” he said.