“SCP Newsletter – De-confinement measures, land cleaning, new SEF procedures”

Portugal´s only registered non-profit crime prevention and civil protection association providing dedicated information and support services to the community

Newsletter - April 3rd 2021

Welcome

There have been quite a few developments over the last few days as far as Covid-19 is concerned with, in particular, the progression of Governments de-confinement plan.

To start with, Phase 2 of de-confinement is going ahead in all municipalities as from Monday 5^th April.

David Thomas, President

Safe Communities Portugal

This eagerly awaited step will allow us to enjoy many activities: for instance, going to restaurants (terraces only) and visiting certain shops that have been closed for some time although there will of course be certain limitations in place.

The Prime Minister warned that the next stages of de-confinement i.e. Phase 3 due for 19^th April and beyond, would be dependent on the risk assessment of each municipality.

If any municipality registers, in two consecutive evaluations, a transmissibility index greater than 1 and an incidence of new cases per 100 thousand inhabitants greater than 120, it will not advance in the next phase of deconfinement. There is concern, however, of the increasing R (t) rate which to reported as over 1 in some areas – linking this to the first phase of de-confinement.

This is a very clear message and incentive for all of us to redouble our efforts to contain this disease. With every stage of de-confinement comes an increase in movement and with that an increase in risk. If that risk materialises into higher cases and increased hospitalisations for instance, we can expect government to apply the brake quickly.

Being under confinement for such a long time, it is natural and human nature that people will venture out more and we will see on Monday many more people around on the streets. In the desire to make use of our new-found freedom. we must play by the rules and not circumvent them.

If everyone follows the rules then this will mean we can progress to Phase 3 on time on 19^th April, as scheduled. It is in our hands.

Please keep up to date with the measures in place by visiting our website page here.

Apart from this, there is news regarding fire risks which I have outlined in this newsletter, plus a new procedure by SEF to facilitate the process of those arriving in Portugal regarding self-isolation and an interview with British Ambassador to Portugal, Chris Sainty, by Tomorrow magazine.

Lastly, I wish you all a Very Happy and Safe Easter.

David Thomas

President, Safe Communities Portugal

Council of Ministers Meeting 1^St April – Second phase of de-confinement

Pursuing the strategy of gradual lifting of measures in the context of the pandemic of the Covid-19, and taking into account the evaluation of the epidemiological criteria for the pandemic control, it was decided to reopen, on the 5th of April, the following activities:

2nd and 3rd cycles of basic education in public, private and cooperative education establishments and in the social and solidarity sector;

ATL’s and study centres and the like, for students who are now resuming educational and teaching activities;

social facilities in the area of disability;

day care centres for the elderly;

retail and services establishments in establishments open to the public, with less than 200 m2 and door to the street;

Museums, monuments, palaces and archaeological or similar sites, national, regional and municipal, public or private, as well as art galleries and exhibition halls. This equipment closes at 22:30 on weekdays and at 13:00 on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays;

Restaurants, cafés and snack bars for food service on terraces, with a limit of four people per table. These establishments must close at 22:30 on weekdays and at 13:00 on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays;

Non-food related fairs and markets are allowed to operate, in addition to fairs and markets for food products, with the authorization of the mayor of the municipality with territorial authority, in accordance with the rules established;

Low-risk physical and sports activities, as well as physical and sports activities in gyms, with group classes being prohibited;

Practice of physical activity outdoors, in groups of up to four people;

In the scope of sports facilities, certain equipment can be opened: firing ranges; tennis courts, padel courts and the like; permanent circuits for motorcycles, automobiles and the like; velodromes; racecourses and similar tracks; gyms; athletics tracks and golf courses.

Rapid tests available at pharmacies from Friday 2^nd April 2021

Antigenic tests for the presence of SARS-CoV-2 that can be done at home will start to be sold in pharmacies this Friday 2nd April and, according to Alliance Healthcare, there will be 500 pharmacies in mainland Portugal prepared to sell the tests.

In a statement sent to the newsrooms, the company guaranteed that "a first batch of 500 pharmacies will already be able to dispense" these tests, in "all districts" of Portugal.

During the weekend, antigenic tests should also reach pharmacies in the autonomous regions of Madeira and the Azores, continues the note from the company that distributes medicines and pharmaceutical products.

In a first phase, 120,000 tests of this type will be guaranteed to the presence of SARS-CoV-2.

The pharmacy chain has more than 10,000 pharmacists available to dispense these rapid antigenic tests, Infarmed received 32 orders for the sale of self-tests but only one is authorized.

Yesterday, Thursday, Infarmed, in a statement, said that, so far, only the SARS-CoV-2 "Rapid Antigen Test Nasal test by the manufacturer SD Biosensor, Inc is authorized, since it has met the defined criteria, both in the presentation of 25 tests or in the presentation of 25 tests destined to be fractionated in pharmacies and authorized LVMNS [places of sale of non-prescription drugs.

Reminder - Ban on travel between municipalities.

Decree 5/2021 states the timing of the ban on circulation (with exemptions) currently in place continues until 23.59 hrs, 5^th April 2021.

This was reaffirmed by the Prime Minister on Thursday night, stating it will be discontinued after that.

Although this law was published on 28th March 2021, which Safe Communities Portugal published on Facebook as soon possible, some media continued to report this as 05:00 hrs on 5th April which is INCORRECT, resulting in people contacting us for clarification.

Government identifies 1002 parishes at high rural fire risk.

The Government has identified 1,002 priority parishes for monitoring fuel management this year, in the scope of the defence of the forest against fires, 112 fewer than the 1,114 identified in 2020, according to a statement released today.

According to the map of priority parishes, published on Tuesday in the Diário da República, the 1,002 priority parishes for the purposes of monitoring fuel management this year are located in 168 of the 278 municipalities in mainland Portugal, mainly in the northern, centre and southern regions.

By district, Vila Real has the most municipalities with priority parishes identified this year, with the presence of 34 municipalities on the map, followed by Coimbra and Guarda, both with 14 municipalities each, and Aveiro, Bragança and Santarém, each with 12 municipalities with identified parishes.

In 2020, the 1,114 priority parishes were located in 186 municipalities in the Portuguese mainland.

As part of the identification of priority parishes this year, one of the deadlines for monitoring and inspections by the authorities for fuel management is “between 16 May and 30 June”, for land adjacent to buildings in rural areas (in a 50-meter strip) and population centre, campsites, industrial parks, logistics platforms and sanitary landfills in forest areas (in a range of 100 meters).

The other deadline is "between 01 and 30 June", for the road, rail and power transmission and distribution lines in very high and high voltage (in a range of 10 meters on each side), as well as in the medium voltage electric power distribution lines and in the natural gas transportation network (in a strip of seven meters for each side), according to the Government order.

According to the authority, the establishment of priorities “does not exempt inspection agents from assessing compliance with all rules provided for by law”, not limiting inspection to the identified areas and periods referred to.

Priority Municipalities and Parishes in the Algarve are:

Aljezur - Aljezur. Bordeira.
Loulé - Ameixial. Salir.
Monchique - Alferce. Marmelete. Monchique.
São Brás de Alportel-São Brás de Alportel.
Tavira- Cachopo. Santa Catarina da Fonte do Bispo.
Vila do Bispo -Vila do Bispo e Raposeira.
Vila Real de Santo António - Monte Gordo. Vila Real de Santo António.

The map and full list of parishes concerned can be downloaded here

Full details on land cleaning can be downloaded from our website here

PLEASE NOTE: THIS IS NOT ONLY PRIORITY AREAS - All rural areas are subject to compliance by owners concerning the cleaning of land which has been extended to 15th May 2021.

SEF Launches new service to facilitate entry to Portugal at border control points.

The Foreign and Border Service (SEF) launches a new bilingual service today 1st APRIL 2021 for all citizens entering Portugal from the United Kingdom, Brazil, South Africa, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Slovenia, Estonia, France, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Poland and Sweden. This service enables citizens from these origins to anticipate the submission of required information in the context of the 14-day prophylactic isolation, by order of the Portuguese Government, speeding up the process of border control.

On arrival in Portugal, whether by air, land or sea, all citizens from the above-mentioned origins will have to fulfil a prophylactic isolation period of 14 days upon entry. This new service made available in Travel. SEF. PT allows citizens, before boarding, or when arriving in Portugal and at a time before control, to submit declaratively all the information necessary to ensure that the border control process takes place in an agile way.

After submission of the data by the passenger, including the address of the place of destination on national territory, the passenger will receive a request for confirmation of an address after which you will receive a certificate in the same way. This certificate should be submitted to the SEF inspector at border checks.

Only after this process will entry into national territory be allowed.

The data collected will be sent by the SEF to the General Health Directorate to help the Portuguese public health authorities locate citizens obliged to prophylactic isolation.

If it affects you, please complete the form from the SEF website here

Interview with Chris Sainty, British Ambassador to Portugal - Tomorrow Magazine.

The interesting interview with the British Ambassador has been published on the Brits in Portugal Facebook page.

This covers a number of topics including residency, deliveries of parcels from the UK, Covid-19 and vaccines etc.

The full interview can be downloaded here

Thank You

I thank our volunteer team members, who are involved with the Covid-19 work namely: Clare, Daniel, Eliana, Fernanda, Jane, Jennie, Jenny, Louise, Mike, Leanne and Sven, plus our key players who help keep the association running: Carlos, Colin, Jim, Lilia, Peter and Raoul.

Stay Safe everyone.

David Thomas

President, Safe Communities Portugal

A Reminder - Social distancing, hygiene and the wearing of face masks are the best ways to prevent the spread of the disease.

If you know others who would like to obtain our newsletter free of charge click here

Lastly we thank all our sponsors (listed at the end of this newsletter) who help keep Safe Communities going and developing.

David Thomas

President, Safe Communities Portugal

Volunteers needed to help our team with Covid-19

Monitor the news in Portugal and give us reports. Would you like to help us?

SCP can only publish correct and confirmed information. This means that we have great demands on both our sources and our volunteers.

Lastly, we are looking for volunteers who have experience in either analysis or research type work who are used to valuing news and facts, to supplement our team during this period of crisis.

Precisely we need help in supplementing our team providing short daily situation reports for events happening in Portugal

You must also be able to write good English. If you feel you are the right person and want to contribute under Covid-19, send us a message here please with a brief description of your experience.

Together we can help keep the community in Portugal up to date!

IF YOU ARE PLEASED WITH OUR SERVICES PLEASE MAKE A DONATION

During the coronavirus our team of volunteers have worked 7 days a week to provide you with the best news and advice.

We do not receive or expect payment of these services as that is the nature of our work as a non-profit volunteer association

However we have incurred extra costs through upgrades to website, translation work, printing and administrative costs for example.

Your generosity by making a donation to help maintain and further develop the work of the association and thereby help keep Portugal a safe place to live and visit would be appreciated. Any amount helps.

Three ways to make a donation Please visit our donation page here with all the details and how money is spent

Paypal - If you would like to make a donation through Paypal please visit our donation page and click on the "Paypal donate" button.

By cheque - If you wish to donate by cheque the bank account name is "Associacao SCP Safe Communities Portugal" and cheques can be posted to Caixa 207-Z, Alfontes, Boliqueime, 8100-062, Algarve.

By interbank transfer - If you wish to donate through inter- bank transfer please use the same name with the following account details NIB 0033 0000 4542 9864 44705.

All donations should be marked "Donation for crime prevention". Thank you.

How your friends can obtain up to date Crime Prevention advice

Please pass on details of Safe Communities Portugal to neighbours and friends so they to can benefit from the up to date crime prevention advice. Simply ask them to click on this link to obtain the latest newsletter: This is a free service.

David Thomas, MBE

President, Safe Communities Portugal

3rd April 2021