Assistant Secretary of State and Cultural Heritage, Ângela Ferreira, said that workers return to museums, monuments and palaces in “rotating and alternating teams” and “there are workers who will not return to work because they are risky”.

Last week, a source from the Directorate-General for Cultural Heritage (DGPC) had revealed to Lusa that a guiding manual was being prepared for the reopening of those cultural facilities on Monday, 18 May, International Museum Day, after about two months, because of covid-19.

Among the rules revealed at the time was the mandatory use of a mask, a minimum distance of two metres, hand and space hygiene.

According to Ângela Ferreira, priority will be given to group visits, of reduced capacity, and sale of tickets "previously scheduled" with museums, as well as payments by ATM.

The guardianship calculation is that inside museums, monuments and palaces there is “one person per 20 square metres”, who can walk on signposted circuits, and that there is a prior estimate of how long the visit will last.

The workers will have individual protection kits, such as masks, which will be delivered “periodically to each cultural equipment”.

"All issues were extensively discussed with the entities that advise and assist us," said Ângela Ferreira, citing associations, unions and the Directorate-General for Health.

Of the equipment under public supervision, Ângela Ferreira said that the caves will remain closed.

At the parliamentary hearing on Culture, the minister, Graça Fonseca, questioned by the PSD, admitted that the opening of the National Centre for Nautical and Underwater Archaeology (CNANS) in Xabregas, Lisbon, is again delayed due to the lack of equipment.

"It is true that there were successive delays, everything was scheduled to open in May and the problem is the acquisition of a machine that has to come from Spain and that, in a pandemic context, the machine cannot come," she said.

According to Graça Fonseca, the centre cannot open without “this essential equipment for the maintenance of the estate”, and has not advanced with any official date.

Asked by the CDS-PP on whether bullfighting would be included in the reopening plan as of 1 June or 30 September, the Minister of Culture - without directly referring to bullfighting - replied that the rules to be defined for open-air shows or indoor venues “apply to all shows of an artistic nature. There is no differentiation of rules”.

On 30 April, the Government approved, in the Council of Ministers, the "Deconfination Plan", which provided for the reopening of bookstores, libraries and archives on 4 May, followed by museums, palaces, galleries and monuments, on 18 May .

Cinemas, theatres, auditoriums and concert halls can open on 1 June, "with marked seats, reduced capacity and physical distance".

These decisions will be “re-evaluated every 15 days”.

"Festivals and shows of a similar nature" are prohibited until 30 September.