The pandemic of Covid-19 caused global panic and crisis. Portugal, on the other hand, kept the process under control from the very beginning. Its close neighbors Spain and Italy having a hard time with the novel coronavirus caused Portugal to keep a close watch on the issue. Consequently, Covid-19 could not cause a catastrophe in Portugal.
Early Response to the Pandemic Played a Key Part
Unlike many other countries, Portugal started taking precautions even before any fatalities took place. When the government issued an alert on March 13th, there were around 100 confirmed cases. On March 19th, after the first Covid-19 related death was confirmed, the state of emergency took effect. With the citizens’ compliance with the rules, Portugal went through the hardest parts of the pandemic relatively unscathed.
Thanks to the early response, after 45 days, on May 4th, Portugal started to return to normal. The country managed to keep its contamination curve flatter than most countries. As a result, the healthcare system of Portugal got never over-populated and over-strained. Now that things are slowly going back to normal, the country has to be careful about the possibility of a relapse. However, the first numbers show that Portugal will not have to worry about it that much. After the first week of returning to quarantine-free life, the daily transmission rate of Covid-19 remained under 1 percent.
Portugal Plans to Go Back to Normal in 2021
Throughout May, Portugal slowly re-activated its public services. This slow restarting plan ended on June 1st, 2020. Then the second wave showed itself in the last months of 2020. The country continues to mandate the usage of masks and certain restrictions. This way, Portugal aims to continue living as close to normal as possible without going through a relapse. That is why the government emphasizes the hygiene rules repeatedly.
Portugal’s Economy is Expected to Recover Quickly
As does almost every other economy in the world, Portugal’s economy is expected to lose worth because of the pandemic. The specific value is probably going to be around 7% for 2020. Since Portugal generates most of its capital through tourism activities, this decrease is very understandable. Moreover, the country is forecasted to grow by around 6% in 2021. This means that the recovery will take just a little over one year for Portugal. Once the global mobility restrictions are removed, Portugal will return to its usual tourism activity level. Owing to its tight control over the Covid-19 crisis, Portugal emerges barely damaged out of a global pandemic.
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