“We started working together with the Brazilian authorities (…) to see under what conditions and when we can ease some of the restrictions that currently apply to passengers arriving in Portugal from Brazil,” said Augusto Santos Silva.

The head Portuguese diplomat was speaking at a joint press conference with his Spanish counterpart, José Manuel Albares, who travelled to Lisbon for a meeting.

Currently, passengers from Brazil can only travel to Portugal for family, professional, study or humanitarian reasons and they have to present a negative test to covid-19, complying with a quarantine period.

Augusto Santos Silva said that Portugal can “evaluate the restrictions that exist” as the pandemic situation improves in each of the countries.

"It was this work that began on 30 July, between Portugal and Brazil, and will continue after the holidays," said the minister, when asked about the difference in criteria between Portugal and Spain regarding the recognition of vaccine certification against Covid-19.

Portugal only recognizes vaccinations made with vaccines approved by the European Medicines Agency, while Spain follows the criteria of the World Health Organization, which includes Chinese and Indian vaccines.