March 2: first recorded cases of COVID-19 in Portugal.
March 12: The Portuguese government declared the highest level of alert because of COVID-19 and said it would be maintained until 9 April. Portugal entered a Mitigation Phase as Community transmission was detected.
March 24: The Portuguese Government admitted that the country could not contain the virus any longer.
March 26: The country entered the "Mitigation Stage". The health care sites dedicated to fighting the disease started including the Portugal Health centres groups.
April
April 2: The Parliament approved the extension of the State of Emergency, as requested by the President. The State of Emergency will remain until 17 April, subject to further extensions of similar duration. Under the new regulations, for the Easter celebrations, from 9 April to 13 April the Portuguese Government decreed special measures in restricting people movements between municipalities with very few exceptions, closing all airports to civil transportation and increased control in the national borders.
April 30: The Portuguese Ministers' Council approved a plan to start releasing the country from the COVID-19 container measures and cancelling the State of Emergency.
May
May 2: The State of Emergency was canceled.
May 4: Portugal started the first phase in easing restrictions. Small street stores reopened..
May 18: Portugal entered the second phase in easing restrictions. Nurseries and the last two years of the secondary school reopened, along with restaurants, cafés, medium-sized street stores and some museums, all with mandatory usage of mask and distance rules.
Response
Information access
Information about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the country is hosted on the DGS home website. However, due to the severity of the pandemic a separate website was created dedicated specifically to coronavirus information and updates under the Portuguese Ministry of Health. Another governmental website was later created to deal with more generic information explaining the emergency status, public information and exceptional measures to help business. The Ministry of Health provides a web page with information for the public about different areas, including brochures, orientation and guidance for different activity sectors, how to deal with self-isolation, and quarantine games for children. As an example there are several Portuguese food recipes with canned food.
Hospitals for COVID-19
The following is a list of the front line COVID-19 hospitals.
Region
Hospital
Adults
Pediatric
Northern
Braga
Northern
Santo António
Northern
São João
Northern
Pedro Hispano
Central
CHU Coimbra
Central
ULS Guarda
Lisbon and Tagus Valley
Santa Maria
Lisbon and Tagus Valley
Curry Cabral
Lisbon and Tagus Valley
Dona Estefânia
Algarve
Faro
Madeira
Dr. Nélio Mendonça
Azores
Santo Espírito
Return to normal
On April 30 the Portuguese Ministers' Council approved a plan to start releasing the country from COVID-19 containment measures and cancel the State of Emergency. The plan was divided in three stages, beginning respectively on 4 May, 18 May and 1 June. trains in March 2020 The first stage eased some restrictions, such as
Barbers and hair salons are open but with health restrictions, mask usage and only by appointment
Small shops with less than 200m2 can open but cannot have more than 5 customers/100m2 and all must use masks
People can use public transportation if they aren't able to work remotely. Transport vehicles can only be filled to two thirds capacity and all passengers must use a mask
All public services are open to everyone with an appointment and is an obligation the use of a mask
Due to movement restrictions imposed by the state of emergency started in March 18 and the adoption of government guidelines on social distancing by the Portuguese people, otherwise highly populated streets and destinations in cities like Lisbon and Porto were completely empty.
