Portuguese police officers check a car at the border between Portugal and Spain
LISBON, April 5 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Portugal extended restrictions on travel via land and sea to Spain that had been due to end this weekend until Apr 15 as it works to contain the spread of COVID-19.
The two countries imposed the restrictions on Jan 28.
The interior ministry said the restrictions would remain in place for a further 11 days, adding that the measures did not prevent citizens or residents of Portugal from entering the country.
Vehicles transporting goods, emergency vehicles and seasonal border workers are also exempt.
Nationals from Britain, Brazil and South Africa – where more contagious coronavirus variants were first detected – or any country with an infection rate above 500 cases per 100,000 people must quarantine for 14 days if they have entered via the land border, the statement said.
Portugal, which has so far reported 780,322 COVID-19 cases and 16,879 deaths, is slowly lifting some other restrictions after a three-month nationwide lockdown came into force early this year.
GREECE said it was extending restrictions on domestic flights until Apr 12 and on international flights until April 19 as the number of new infections there continues to rise.
ITALY reported 326 coronavirus-related deaths on Sunday against 376 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections decreased to 18,025 from 21,261.
Italy has registered 111,030 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world.
The country has reported 3.6 million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with COVID-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 28,432 on Sunday, down from 28,489 a day earlier.
The total number of intensive care patients fell to 3,703 from a previous 3,714. — NNN-AGENCIES