Is Cascais Under New Restrictions?

 

The first thing to say is: no, Cascais is not among the Lisbon parishes to bring back Covid-19 lockdown measures. And, yes, we still can leave the house not only for shopping.

But at the end of June new restrictions were introduced in the municipality, and we still will have to face some changes from 1 July.

The stay at home rule returns to some parts of municipalities of Lisbon, Loures, Amadora, Odivelas and Sintra. Neither municipality of Cascais nor downtown Lisbon or Sintra are included.

23 June Rules

However, since 23 June, more restrictions have been introduced for bars, cafés, stores and other service establishments throughout Lisbon Metropolitan Area.

They all must close no later than 8 in the evening. Restaurants are the exception here. If their customers want to dine-in or order take away or delivery food, owners are allowed to keep their doors open.

But a nighttime beer outing will come to naught in any case. Also, you won’t get booze at a gas station and might be fined while drinking in public spaces at any time of the day.

Gatherings of more than 10 people (excluding same households) are considered illegal and subject to punishment.

For most regions in the country this number is currently twice as high. You can expect more security checks on the streets, the beachfront promenade (paredão) or shopping malls. If you don’t follow the rules you may be held accountable.

1 July Rules

As of 1 July, some amenities introduced during the lockdown cease to apply. Fees restart at parking meters in the municipality. Public bus rides remain free, but only for Viver Cascais cardholders. We wrote about this card here (https://www.portalcascais.pt/cascais-global/viver-cascais-card-how-to-use-bus-transport-for-free/).

What Else You Should Know

Remember that face masks or shields are still mandatory in public spaces like shops or offices. We should also not ignore the 2-metre physical-distancing rule.

All Cascais residents can also benefit from free serological tests for coronavirus antibodies. The town hall has even launched a covid-bus that will help examine people with disabilities.

To get tested, you need to first register on the Mobi Cascais website (https://vivercascais.mobicascais.pt/), and submit a not older than 3 months proof of residency document, for instance, an electricity bill.

When your registration is confirmed, request testing on the same website, and then call 800 203 186 to schedule your test or wait for an email with a suggested date.

If you find this process too complicated, you can try to register directly at the town hall office (loja de Cascais) or via this email: atendimento.municipal@cm-cascais.pt.

Among several thousand citizens studied so far, about 1% have been tested positive. There are 214,000 residents in the municipality. Cascais is the sixth most infected municipality of the Greater Lisbon area.

 

Andrzej Kedzierawski

Profissional journalism and digital marketing

(Born in Poland and lives in Cascais)