The wearing of masks in streets became mandatory as of today, although there are exceptions, and non-compliance will be punished with fines of up to €500 euros.
According to a Law approved by the President of the Republic on Monday, and published yesterday in Diário da República, the mandatory wearing of masks in the street is seen as a way of combating the Covid-19 virus and will last for 70 days. The law covers all citizens aged from 10 years-old and above and is applicable whenever walking along a public road or space where the physical social distancing rule cannot be applied.
However, the Law does include exceptions, such as members of the same household can be together without wearing a mask providing they are not in the vicinity of third parties. Furthermore, the use of masks is no longer mandatory for people who present a multi-person medical certificate of incapacity or medical declaration that attests that the person’s clinical condition is not compatible with the wearing of a masks and even when this is incompatible with the nature of the activities that people are undertaking.
The enforcement of the Law on the mandatory wearing of a mask is the responsibility of the security forces and municipal police who must, in the first place, make people aware of the importance of wearing a mask on public roads and spaces.
The Law provides for awareness campaigns to inform the population of the importance of wearing a mask in public spaces and roads, to encourage spontaneous adherence by people to this and other individual and collective protection measures against covid-19.
The provisions of the diploma apply in the Autonomous Regions of the Azores and Madeira, with the necessary adaptations brought in by the respective regional governments.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
