LISBON, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa announced on Friday that travel will be banned during the long weekend that begins with the May 1 Labor Day holiday.
The prime minister told reporters that travel will be strictly restricted even between neighboring municipalities, as occurred during the Easter holiday.
Costa defended the continuation of containment and isolation for the control of the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that even after the end of the state of emergency, it will not be possible to return completely to normalcy until there is a vaccine.
The prime minister said that there have already been meetings with the restaurant, tourism and industry sectors to plan how to ease the restrictions early next month after the end of the state of emergency, adding that the rules will be different for each type of activity, but all will go through the approval of the Directorate-General for Health.
The schedule for lifting some restrictions will be released on April 30.
Costa said that "one step at a time" will be taken, with new releases every 15 days, starting on May 4, then May 18 and June 1.
He revealed that the resumption will start from the "smaller" stores to the "large commercial spaces."
Portugal's third period of state of emergency will end on May 2 after two consecutive renewals.
The country now has a total to 22,797 COVID-19 cases and 854 deaths, the health authorities said on Friday. Enditem
