Portugal closes its border with Spain two weeks from this Friday

The Prime Minister of Portugal, António Costa, during a ceremony this Tuesday, DPA via Europa Press / Europa Press

The Government of Portugal has announced that the border with Spain will be closed as of this Friday and for an initial period of two weeks, in an attempt to contain the expansion of the coronavirus pandemic, which has reached unprecedented levels in Portuguese territory during this month.

Not only does the land border with Spain close: departures by sea and air to other countries are limited.

"The Government will adopt the measure of limitation of trips abroad in the next 15 days of national citizens.

Except for exceptional cases, in the next fortnight, departures by air, land or river of national citizens will be limited ”, said the Portuguese Minister of the Interior, Eduardo Cabrita, this Thursday.

Cabrita has announced the border closure at the end of the debate on the renewal of the state of emergency in the Assembly of the Republic.

The extension of this exceptional measure has gone ahead again with the support of the main parties.

The border closure between Spain and Portugal already took place between March 17 and July 1, 2020.

The Foreign Minister of Spain, Arancha González Laya, acknowledged this Thursday that the Spanish and Portuguese governments are finalizing a "temporary limitation" of border mobility that will affect both Portuguese and Spanish.

It has indicated that this decision is taken at the proposal of Portugal: it is working on a "limitation agreed upon by common agreement."

He clarified that these restrictions would affect both Portuguese citizens and Spaniards living in cross-border areas, but he trusted that they understand that the decision has "the health mission of helping us limit the increase in infections."

At the moment no details are known such as, for example, how this measure affects cross-border workers.

González Laya has spoken of "mechanisms that allow us to continue with the day-to-day life of our cross-border citizens", without specifying further.

Thus, Portugal becomes the sixth EU country to announce the closure of its borders.

The first to do so was Denmark, on November 12 and in principle the measure is scheduled until May 11, although the Danish Government has indicated that it will lift it as soon as the situation allows, which a priori should be earlier .

The next to follow in his footsteps was Hungary, which approved the closure of its borders on December 30 until this Thursday, although the measure has been extended until March 1.

On January 9, it was Austria's turn, which has decreed the closure until February 7, while Finland announced on January 11 that it was doing the same until February 25, according to data from the European Commission, which countries must notify these types of decisions.

The last country to join the list, before the announcement of Portugal, has been Belgium, which has its borders closed from this Wednesday until February 5.

In addition, Norway, a member of the Schengen area, also has closed borders from November 12 to February 9.

The number of deceased grows

The Portuguese Prime Minister, António Costa, admitted on Wednesday night in a television interview that the situation is "very bad" due to the "exponential" growth of infections in the third wave, which has also left "a dramatic number" of deaths.

Costa has admitted that the relaxation of controls during the Christmas holidays is partly behind the rebound in infections and that, with the data on the table today, "the rules would have been different."

"There was a confluence between the appearance of the English variant and the Christmas rules," he explained.

The General Directorate of Health has notified this Thursday new maximums of cases and deaths from COVID-19, with 16,432 positives and 303 deaths in the last 24 hours.

Since the pandemic began, 685,383 cases and 11,608 deaths have been confirmed in Portugal.

The health authorities estimate that there are more than 6,500 patients admitted to hospitals, 782 in intensive care units, and they do not hide their concern about the pressure from the centers in certain areas such as Lisbon.

The Minister of Health, Marta Temido, has urged the hospitals of the capital to equip all the beds they have.

Only in the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region, 8,621 new cases and 142 more deaths from COVID-19 have been reported this Thursday, ahead of the 4,057 positives and 60 fatalities registered in the North zone.

At the Center, 2,736 cases and 66 more deaths have been confirmed in 24 hours.

Information about the coronavirus

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