“The strategy at the moment is not to change what is [in effect]. We want to keep. The only way we have to control potential outbreaks in Madeira and Porto Santo, the only way we have to protect the lives and health of the Madeirans and Porto-Santenses, is to have the ability to control the entrances in the region ”, declared the Madeiran government official.

Miguel Albuquerque pointed out that the checks will be carried out through screening tests to covid-19: "If the passenger disembarks in Madeira with a negative test done in the last 72 hours, he will go on with his life and then he will be accompanied by the health authority".

"If you don't have the test, you will be quarantined in a hotel with costs ensured by the Autonomous Region of Madeira", he explained.

The chief executive pointed out that "it is necessary to have the notion that an infected person, even involuntarily, is very dangerous and potential source of infection for people and families".

Miguel Albuquerque said that these measures were adopted “within the framework of Civil Protection”, which is a law “not approved by the region” and whose application depends on the “regional health authority, which has the competence, in the name of safeguarding life and public health of Madeirans and Porto-Santenses, to introduce certain restrictions and cautions ”.

“Therefore, we are not here to violate Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees. We are here to protect other rights, such as the right to health and life for the rest of the population, to restrict and safeguard these potential sources of infection, ”he said.

The official stressed that on Monday, after 25 consecutive days without new cases, a new infected person appeared, "a person who had arrived in the region".

"We have the power, in certain circumstances that the law establishes, to restrict the rights of movement," he said, recalling the sanitary fence imposed in the parish of Câmara de Lobos between April 19 and May 3 due to an outbreak that arose in a neighbourhood guaranteeing that the measure was applied “without jeopardising Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees”.

According to Miguel Albuquerque, passengers arriving in Madeira have an option, if they do not want to quarantine: "Take the test in Lisbon”.

The executive's leader stressed that the quarantine carried out in Madeira is "different" from that of the Azores, where this "was mandatory and supported by passengers".

“This does not happen here [Madeira], because in the region, passengers have an alternative: they either present the test or quarantine. There is a freedom of choice, there is no absolute restriction on the right of movement ”, he concluded.