Visitors trickle into Portugal amid Covid surge

Vilar Formoso, Portugal, Jul 10 (EFE).- The coronavirus-related restrictions Portugal has recently imposed, including a night-time curfew, have had an impact on the already suffering tourism industry in the country.

“Now we are a little scared, because we heard on the news that the situation was getting worse,” Paula Valente told Efe after crossing the border into Portugal from Spain.

The spike in the coronavirus cases, especially in the Algarve and the capital Lisbon, has led many tourists to cancel their hotel reservations.

Among those was Jorge Amaral, a Portuguese national who lives in Switzerland.

“We are going to look for something else that does not have such a high infection rate,” he told Efe. “I had a hotel booked in Portimao (Algarve) and I had to cancel.”

Pedro Chaves, meanwhile, is sticking to his plan to visit Lisbon with his family.

“Although the situation is complicated, we want to go,” he told Efe.

A negative test or the digital vaccination certificate is a requirement to reserve a hotel room in Portugal as of today.

These documents will also be necessary to access restaurants during the weekend in 60 areas of the country with the highest infection rate, including Lisbon, Porto and Faro.

Only children younger than 12 and employees are exempt from these requirements.

In Portugal’s worst-hit areas, remote working has once again become mandatory, while cultural shows, cafes and restaurants will close at 10:30 p.m. and the capacity for weddings or baptisms will be a maximum of 25%.

For the fourth day in a row, Portugal has exceeded 3,000 news cases, with Lisbon accounting for 44% of 3,162 infections that have been detected over the past 24 hours.

Portugal on Saturday reported six coronavirus-related deaths, for a total of 17,148 fatalities since the pandemic broke out. EFE

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