RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Portugal has lifted a ban on flights to and from the UK and Brazil for business and study trips, but not for tourism, the Portuguese government said Friday, April 16, while restrictions on land and sea travel to Spain will remain in place for another 15 days.
The country suspended all flights to and from Brazil and the UK, except humanitarian and repatriation flights, in mid-January to prevent the spread of Covid-19 variants and imposed border controls with neighboring Spain on January 28.
Portugal’s Interior Ministry said the border restrictions with Spain, which has a higher infection rate than Portugal, would continue until the end of the month, based on a bilateral agreement. The measures do not prevent Portuguese citizens or residents from entering the country.
“The suspension of flights to and from Brazil and the UK is lifted, only for essential travel – as was already the case with flights from third countries,” he said.
Essential travel applies to those entering or leaving Portugal for professional, study, family reunion, health or humanitarian reasons.
The UK has not yet said when extended travel might resume and which countries would be on its green list of low-risk destinations after suspending all but humanitarian and repatriation flights in mid-January.
Passengers coming from South Africa, Brazil or countries with a Covid-19 incidence rate of 500 or more cases per 100,000 inhabitants must quarantine for 14 days.
Portugal has eased the restrictions it imposed in January to contain what was, at the time, the world’s worst Covid-19 outbreak per population.
Most Portuguese regions will enter the third phase of easing confinement next week, but stricter rules will remain in place in municipalities where transmission rates remain high.
The nation of 10 million people has recorded 829,911 infections and 16,937 deaths since the pandemic began.
Source: Infomoney