The ongoing Covid-19 Coronavirus outbreak is already having a huge impact on people throughout the world. Here at Pure Portugal, we wanted to reach out to you to reassure you during this time of change.
The service we provide at Pure Portugal will continue to be here and we will still be adding properties to the website (though we expect a slower rate and less properties to be being listed for the coming few weeks while people understandably assess the situation). It is reassuring that many people have complimented the Portuguese government on the handling of this outbreak, Portugal is an incredibly safe country to be in and the governent is going above and beyond to keep residents informed and feeling secure.
We will still be keeping an eye on our email Inbox for enquiries, but please do expect response times to be delayed for the month ahead. Due to the restriction of movement for people within Portugal, agents and private sellers may not be able to show property to you, and may take longer to reply to you than usual due to their personal and work circumstances. We will continue to monitor the situation daily and will keep you updated when things change.
Pure Portugal will continue to be here with our online presence to support you in the best way we can. We thought we would let you know about the things we are doing going forward to help keep people connected and informed both in and outside of Portugal.
- We will be adding to this blog each Friday with the latest information (see a little further down for the most recent update). Information will include details on border closures/openings, freedom of movement and infection rates of the virus, along with anything else we feel will be helpful. This information will in the main be shared from the fantastic Safe Communities Portugal who offer the most accurate information on all matters of safety in Portugal. We are very proud and grateful to be working with them especially at times like this, you can find more information about them here.
- We will continue to share daily updates and any other significant changes as they happen on our Facebook group Pure Portugal Living The Good Life, these will in the main be shared updates from Safe Communities Portugal page which you can also find and follow here.
- Through the Living The Good Life Facebook group we will continue to connect people with their local communities and will continue to support you in buying food from local producers – they really need our support at this time more than ever. You can also find amazing suppliers and services on our business directory here.
- We have decided for the time being to allow people looking for rental accommodation to post a request on the Facebook group, if you need a safe place to isolate or stay while in Portugal please feel free to post on the relevant link on Pure Portugal Living The Good Life under the topic – Coronavirus Help. Please also see our rentals website www.pureportugalholidays.com for property rentals and we will do all we can to help!
- For the time being we have stopped our free seeds promotion for new people who sign up to the newsletter, many country borders are closed, meaning mail will be stalled and possibly lost, we hope this will lessen the burden on systems which are already under pressure and reduce the risk of spread of the virus by sending mail to lots of different locations.
Please do continue to check our site for property, if you are at stuck at home this is a great time to dream and plan for the future.
We will be using time we have now to spring clean our fabulous website, adding useful blogs and guides which we always intend to spend time creating and never have the time to do due to being so busy with property enquiries! We remain focussed on helping you and continuing to provide the excellent service you have come to expect from us. We wish you all stay safe and well, we hope this can be a time for us all to pull together as an online community to share ideas and support.
CONTROLS ON LAND BORDER BETWEEN PORTUGAL AND SPAIN TO REMAIN AFTER 14 TH MAY
The land borders between Portugal and Spain will remain closed after May 14, the Minister of Internal Affairs announced today, without putting forward a date for the reopening.
In the parliamentary committee on Constitutional Affairs, Rights, Freedoms and Guarantees, where he was speaking yesterday afternoon, Eduardo Cabrita said that the control of land borders will be extended “beyond May 14”.
“May 14, certainly not [reopening of borders]. I do not anticipate any date,” said the minister, stressing that he is “dependent on the success” of Portugal and Spain in the fight against the covid-19.
The control of land borders with Spain is being carried out since 23:00 on March 16 at nine authorized crossing points due to the covid-19 pandemic.
The operating border points are Valença-Tuy, Vila Verde da Raia-Verín, Quintanilha-San Vitero, Vilar Formoso-Fuentes de Oñoro, Monfortinho-Cilleros Thermal Springs, Marvão-Valencia de Alcântara, Caia-Badajoz, Vila Verde de Ficalho -Rosal de la Frontera and Vila Real de Santo António-Ayamonte.
READ MORE HERE
CONTROL BORDER EXEMPTIONS HERE IN ENGLISH
https://www.safecommunitiesportugal.com/international-trav…/
CONTROL OF BOARDER CONDITIONS AND EXEMPTIONS HERE
https://dre.pt/…/pesqu…/-/search/130326108/details/maximized
BORDER CLOSURES: TRAVELLING BY ROAD.
If you are travelling by road to the UK from Portugal, and may have experienced issues at the Portugal-Spain border, the issues have been clarified and there is inter-Governmental agreement that allows vehicles including motorhomes to travel across the borders from Portugal to Spain and Spain into France, in order to return to the UK. It is very important that you have all appropriate personal, vehicle and travel documents, and evidence of your ferry booking, to present to immigration authorities or the police in those countries.
PORTUGAL TO SUSPEND AIR LINKS TO AND FROM DESTINATIONS OUTSIDE EU
REGARDING UK
The Prime Minister stated “não é tratado como país terceiro, mas da União Europeia”. In other words UK is being treated as part of the EU, as such this does NOT apply to UK air travel
EARLIER
The Prime Minister, António Costa, announced on Tuesday that Portugal will be suspending air links from and to countries outside the European Union from 00:00 on Thursday 19th March (midnight Wednesday) for a period of 30 days.
“As of midnight, all international flights to and from outside the European Union to any national airport will be suspended”, announced António Costa, in a press conference at the Secretary of State European Affairs, in Lisbon, after an Extraordinary European Council, which took place by videoconference. (Reported by Lusa)
The exceptions, he added, will be the extra-community countries where there is a “strong presence of Portuguese communities”, such as Canada, the United States, Venezuela and South Africa, and the Portuguese-speaking countries
However, in the specific case of Brazil, the routes will be restricted to Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, with all others being suspended.
COVID-19: EUROPEAN COMMISSION PROVIDES GUIDANCE ON EU PASSENGER RIGHTS
The EC published today a guideline concerning passenger’s rights in view of the cancellation of many flights and other forms of international travel because of Covid-19
The guidelines cover the rights of passengers when travelling by air, rail, ship or bus/coach, maritime and inland waterways, as well as the corresponding obligations for carriers.
If passengers face the cancellation of their journey, for example, they can choose between reimbursement of the ticket price or re-routing to reach their final destination at a later stage.
At the same time, the guidelines clarify that the current circumstances are “extraordinary”, with the consequence that certain rights – such as compensation in case of flight cancellation less than two weeks from departure date – may not be invoked.
DETAILS CAN BE FOUND HERE FROM THE EC
https://ec.europa.eu/commiss…/presscorner/detail/…/ip_20_485
