Anyone who enters Portugal without a negative test risks a fine of up to 800 euros
The decree-law with the new measures in the scope of the covid-19 pandemic, with effect from December 1st, was published on Saturday in Diário da República.
Among the mandatory changes is compliance with the rules applicable to air traffic and airports, as well as land, maritime and river traffic, particularly with regard to the requirements for requesting and presenting the Covid Digital Certificate of the European Union and the form location of passengers (PLF).
The mandatory document also includes the obligation to submit a PCR test or rapid antigen test with a negative result or mandatory confinement, on the part of passengers and airlines and shipowners of passenger ships or their legal representatives, in accordance with the declarations of the respective alert, contingency or calamity situations.
According to the decree-law, non-compliance with these obligations by natural persons constitutes an administrative offence, sanctioned with a fine of 300 to 800 euros when a person does not bear proof of a laboratory test for PCR or rapid antigen testing for screening the SARS-CoV-2 infection with negative result, performed within 72 hours or 48 hours prior to the time of boarding, respectively, when this is legally required or proof of completion of the PLF.
The airlines, the entities responsible for the management of airports or the owners of passenger ships or their legal representatives, as applicable, risk paying a fine of 20 to 40 million euros for each passenger who boards without the tests Requested.
A fine of 20 thousand to 40 thousand euros was also set, for each day of non-compliance with the obligation to provide the tests, the obligation to monitor body temperature by infrared for all passengers arriving in national territory, the obligation to distribute the date of body temperature when a relevant body temperature is detected following screening or the obligation to implement a system to verify the fulfillment of these obligations by passengers.
The decree-law also states that ANA – Aeroportos de Portugal must implement a system to verify the fulfillment of this obligation by passengers, namely, by professionals from the private security area allocated for the purpose.
Covid-19 has caused at least 5,180,276 deaths worldwide, among more than 259.46 million infections with the new coronavirus registered since the start of the pandemic, according to the latest report by the Agence France-Presse.
In Portugal, since March 2020, 18,405 people have died and 1,139,810 cases of infection have been recorded, according to data from the General Directorate of Health.
The disease is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, detected in late 2019 in Wuhan, a city in central China.
A new variant (Omicron) was recently detected in South Africa and, according to the World Health Organization, the “high number of mutations” may imply greater infectivity.
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