The Municipality of Porto Santo issued a statement this morning expressing its particular concern over the evolution of the pandemic in the Region, as well as the number of cases of infection that have occurred in the last 48 hours, in Porto Santo.
With the number of active cases known to date, Porto Santo has become a municipality with a high risk of transmissibility, alongside Funchal, Câmara de Lobos and Ribeira Brava.
“The Municipality of Porto Santo will wait for the Government Council meeting, to formalise the most restrictive measures in the scope of the fight against Covid-19, and hopes that further measures will still be determined and applied, for the island of Porto Santo, in particular they are looking to postpone or close schools, as well as introduce new safety measures for those travelling between Madeira and Porto Santo, as well as ensure that all new containment measures, such as the curfew are strictly adhered to.
The mayor also asks all those who are returning to Porto Santo from overseas during the next couple of days to remain in isolation thus drastically reducing the number of social contacts until a second negative test has been recorded.
Finally, the municipality strongly asks everyone to comply with all health and safety guidelines and ensure that they act responsibly at all times.
Later on in the day a further announcement was made, saying that as long as the maritime connections between the islands of Madeira and Porto Santo remains suspended, the Regional Government has determined that passengers disembarking at Porto Santo airport, who are not carrying a PCR test to screen for SARS-CoV-2 with result negative, carried out within a maximum period of 72 hours prior to departure, must undergo a PCR test on arrival.
The test will be carried out by the health authorities, and the passenger must remain in isolation, in the respective home or in the hotel establishment where he / she is staying, until a negative test result is obtained.
According to the Government’s resolution, residents of Porto Santo who travel to Funchal for less than 5 days, have to undergo a test 5 days after their return, and must remain in isolation until a negative result is obtained. Porto Santo residents who travel to Funchal for more than 5 days must present a negative test carried out in the last 72 hours to the Madeiran airport authorities and remain in isolation until a second test is performed 5 -7 days later. Again they must wait for a negative result.
Emigrants, migrants, students returning from vacation, and all those who are going to live with residents in Porto Santo, must present a negative test carried out in the last 72 hours on landing, remain in isolation, undergo a second test 5 – 7 days later, and remain in quarantine until a negative result has been confirmed.
Samantha Gannon
info at madeira-weekly.com
