In a joint press conference to release data from the operation “Easter at Home”, which took place between 00:00 on April 9 and 24:00 on Monday, the police said that 87 people were detained, 15 of them were for violation of mandatory confinement, i.e. infected with Covid-19 and were on the street.
The main objective of this operation was to monitor compliance with the rules of the state of emergency due to the pandemic, which during the Easter period had tighter restrictions, including the ban on movement outside the municipality of the area of residence, except in situations provided in the decree, such as going to work.
“The operation went very well because of what was, once again, society’s citizenship behaviour during this period,” the director of operations of the Republican National Guard (GNR) told reporters, noting that about 35,000 members of the two security forces were involved.
Vitor Rodrigues said the GNR carried out 9,565 inspections and awareness-raising activities, which resulted in the closure of 118 establishments and 21 arrests, one of which was for violation of the obligation of confinement.
In turn, the Public Security Police, which operates in large cities and district capitals, conducted 7,400 operations and detained 66 people during the period of the “Easter at Home” operation.
The director of the PSP’s operations department, Luis Elias, said 14 arrests were related to the confinement situation, stressing that during the weekend, this police recorded “a peak” of these arrests, considered the “most serious in terms of confinement situations” of people who are infected.
The PSP also closed 109 establishments and carried out several vehicle inspections, in which 64 people were arrested for driving without a license.
The director of operations of GNR said that the second period of the state of emergency will end on the 17th and “everything leads us to believe that it will be prolonged”, and it is now essential to wait for the new rules.
“We still don’t have information that will help us decide what to do, but we will continue to work on the enforcement of the law,” he said, emphasising that the GNR will adapt “to the new rules.
The director of the PSP’s operations department said they will wait for the publication of the extension of the state of emergency and for a new legal framework.
Portugal is in a state of emergency from March 19 to April 17 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to the balance made today by the General Direction of Health, there have been 567 deaths associated with Covid-19, and 17,448 confirmed cases of infection in the country.
