Portuguese companies willing to produce material

The State Secretary for Health said today that 24 million surgical masks will arrive in Portugal this month

This is in addition to the production of 100 Portuguese companies willing to produce material necessary to fight the covid-19 pandemic.

This will be followed by a further 1.8 million masks by the end of May.

Latest figures show there are now 246 coronavirus deaths and almost 10,000 cases of infection in Portugal.  

Australia should follow Portugal and treat Migrants as residents.

Australia is being called on to closely consider Portugal's approach to supporting migrants during the coronavirus outbreak.

The European nation has decided migrants will be treated as permanent residents until at least 1 July to ensure they have access to public services.

Refugee Council of Australia Chief Executive Paul Power told SBS News the model recognises the pressing needs of temporary migrants amid the health crisis.“During the life of this pandemic the situation.

Under the Portuguese model, applicants, including asylum seekers, would only need to provide evidence of an ongoing request to qualify for public services. 

This means they would be granted access to the national health service, welfare benefits, bank accounts and work and rental contracts. 

Portugal's Internal Affairs Ministry spokeswoman Claudia Velosa told Reuters migrants should not be deprived of their rights in the pandemic.

“In these exceptional times, the rights of migrants must be guaranteed,” she said.  

But in Australia, concerns have been raised that more than 1.1 million temporary workers could be ineligible for almost all welfare measures. 

This group includes international students, working holidaymakers, as well as those on bridging, temporary protection and safe haven visas. 

With the exemption of some New Zealand nationals, temporary migrants have been excluded from most coronavirus welfare assistance responses.changed,” he said.  

“We all know that the virus doesn’t discriminate on the basis of people’s citizenship or permanent residency or the nature of their visa.”

   Source SBS news

Portugal gives Migratns residents right equal to the portuguese

Migrants in Portugal will be treated as  residents of portuguese until at least 1 July to ensure they have access to public services during the Covid-19 outbreak.

Applicants including asylum seekers need only provide evidence of an ongoing request to qualify - granting them access to the national health service, welfare benefits, bank accounts, and work and rental contracts.

Claudia Veloso, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Internal Affairs, told “People should not be deprived of their rights to health and public service just because their application has not yet been processed,”  She said,“In these exceptional times, the rights of migrants must be guaranteed.”

The policy also aims to reduce contagion risk by minimizing contact between border control service staff and applicants, the statement said.

Portuguese consulates overseas to accept documentation in other languages

Portuguese consulates overseas to accept documentation in other languages
and the validity of the national Citizen’s Card has been extended from five years to 10 years.

Portuguese consulates in foreign countries are soon to start accepting documents in English, Spanish and French, meaning citizens will no longer need to embark on the costly process of getting their paperwork translated.

The move was announced last week by the State Secretary for Communities, José Luís Carneiro, during a visit to mark Emigrant’s Day in the northern Portuguese municipality of Murça.

The measure is also designed to make consular proceedings simpler and speedier.

During his visit to Murça last Friday, José Luís Carneiro highlighted another measure that also facilitates the relationship of Portuguese residents abroad with consular branches: the validity of the national Citizen’s Card has been extended from five years to 10 years.
“This means holders will not have to go to consular branches as often”, José Luís Carneiro said.

Portugal voted friendliest country in Europe

Portugal has been ranked Europe’s friendliest country and the 10th friendliest country in the world on a list lead by Taiwan.

This conclusion was drawn from a survey in which more than 14,000 people from 191 different countries took part. The survey was conducted by website International in which opinions were sought from people living outside their country of birth, to find out which are the friendliest countries to live in. 

Participants were asked to evaluate their satisfaction with quality of life, ability to integrate, financial situation, work environment and family life in their adopted countries. Portugal topped the list of most welcoming European countries, and was ranked 10th on the list of worldwide countries, which was lead by Taiwan.

At the very bottom of the list, as the world’s most unfriendly countries, are the Czech Republic, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait.

Fire in car park of dance festival destroys 422 vehicles

IN NEWS ·

A fire that spread through a parking lot near a large festival in Portugal’s central interior yesterday completely destroyed 422 vehicles and damaged a further nine.

Around 4,000 festival-goers were advised to vacate the venue as a precaution. Fire-fighters brought the blaze under control in just over an hour with no victims to report.

Spread over 48 hectares the Andanças dance and music festival in Castelo de Vide in Portalegre expects to welcome some 40,000 visitors by Sunday.

GNR police are investigating the cause of the fire.

Quality of Portugal tap water is international 'level of excellence'

Portugal tap water quality at international 'level of excellence'

BY TPN/ LUSA, 

The quality of tap water in Portugal is excellent, according to international criteria, with 99% of good quality around the whole country, an official for the national regulatory agency for the sector, ERSAR, said on Thursday.

"We have gone from very good quality to a situation of excellence, and in 2015 we achieved for the first time 99% safe water, which is a criterion considered internationally to be a level of excellence," Luís Simas, the director of the agency's Quality Department, told Lusa. Simas, who was speaking after the release of the annual report on "Quality Control for Water for Human Consumption" for 2015, explained that where infringements are detected, 80% are pointers to a need for improvement in ways that do not directly affect health. Instead, they "function as a warning so that suitable measures are taken to avoid the situation worsening."

Most of such situations, he added, "are in the interior of the country, in smaller supply areas, and less along the coast and in densely inhabited areas."The remaining infringements are "related to compulsory parameters [and happen] occasionally, because of characteristics of the origin of the water or because the treatment did not function with the efficiency that it should have," he said. When these are detected, "the managing entity is obliged to correct them".

Last year, more than half a million analyses were carried out, with 330 left uncompleted. That, Simas said, is in line with previous years and means that controls are still being done "with great rigour and with results that make it possible to have a very precise and exact idea of the quality of tap water".