António Costa spoke to journalists at the end of the meeting with epidemiologists, at Infarmed, in Lisbon, about the evolution of the covid-19 pandemic in Portugal, in which he reiterated that citizens in general must this April make "a great effort" to combat the spread of the new coronavirus.

"We must always be prudent, progressive and always measure the consequences of decisions so as not to take risks. We must simultaneously create conditions of trust in society and conditions so that, with responsibility, we can decide to reopen restaurants, neighbourhood shops or the supermarkets ", declared the Prime Minister.

António Costa tried to highlight the importance of the social trust factor in the reopening process, claiming that it can even be decided that the restaurants reopen, but then, "if people are not confident, they also don't go to restaurants".

Asked once more about the Government's calendar to start lifting restrictions on the movement of people and economic activity, the executive's leader again claimed that "results cannot be anticipated" in terms of fighting the pandemic.

"Serenely, without anxieties, we have to wait until the end of the month, the 28th, to return to see what the evaluation is," he said, in an allusion to the next meeting with an epidemiologist at Infarmed, before leaving a repair.

"Portugal has not had the same degree of restriction as other countries and, with respect to industry, with the exception of Ovar, no restrictions were imposed on the operation of industrial units, in addition to the need to comply with safety and security standards of social withdrawal. Many stopped their activity, either because the supply chain had been interrupted, or because there was a collapse in demand, "he claimed.

At this point, the Prime Minister stressed that the removal of restrictions "will have to be done in a gradual and progressive way".

"Each time we remove a restriction measure, without treatment and without a vaccine, the number of contagions will increase. We must always measure whether, when this risk of increased contamination is verified, it is controllable or not before we can start to withdraw the measures ", he added.