“We are in a state of calamity, it will be renewed and we will keep the schedule because we are in the middle of a pandemic”, said Miguel Albuquerque the president of the Regional Government.

The Madeiran government official defended that, given the regional epidemiological situation, it is necessary to “maintain the curfew [between 01:00 and 05:00], the closing of establishments at the determined time [00:00] to avoid crowding”.

The goal is for Madeira “to have no more cases”, he said, mentioning that the region currently has “five people hospitalised in the covid-19 zone” of the Hospital Dr. Nélio Mendonça, in Funchal, “none in intensive care and the hospital capacity is completely safeguarded”.

“But it is necessary to take into account that the transmission chains are being monitored”, he referred and mentioned that, “at this moment, there are two in Porto Santo”.

Miguel Albuquerque defended the need to “control the situation so that the pandemic does not spread” on the island which already has “83 percent of the population vaccinated”.

He also pointed out that currently more than 70 people are in isolation in the region (23 in Porto Santo and 53 in Madeira), cases that were “imported and detected at airports”.

Miguel Albuquerque also said that from 2 August, the reopening of the German market, one of the main sources of tourism to Madeira, should take place.

Therefore, “tourist recovery is underway. We are diversifying the markets, but it is not fully recovered and we are still in the middle of the pandemic", he reinforced, emphasising that support for companies continues to be "fundamental", "especially for those most affected by the pandemic", such as those linked to the sector. tourism.