LISBON, (Pakistan Point News - 18th May, 2020) Portugal's Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, recently said that the results of the first phase of easing the lockdown imposed because of COVID-19 had been positive, and that there was no reason to postpone further steps to relaunch the economy.
He took this position after a cabinet meeting at which measures to reopen economic activities early last week were approved, reported Portuguese news agency, Lusa.
According to the prime minister, given the known data on the evolution of the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal, the government concluded that "the first containment measures taken 15 days ago and which came into force at the beginning of this month did not alter the trend of control" of the spread of the new coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
"Therefore, and as we said 15 days ago, in view of these developments, there is no reason to postpone or go back [on] any of the measures that we had planned to enter into force next Monday," he said. "On the contrary, as we did 15 days ago, we still have a robust system of testing capacity. We are now in Europe, after Lithuania, Cyprus and Denmark, the country with the fourth-highest number of tests carried out per one million inhabitants."
