Portugal lifts night-time curfew as COVID-19 vaccination speeds up

Portugal said on Thursday it would lift a night-time curfew and restrictions on restaurants' opening hours from Sunday, with around half of the population fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, helping to control a recent surge in infections. "Vaccination has contributed very significantly to (allow) these measures...

Portugal said on Thursday it would lift a night-time curfew and restrictions on restaurants' opening hours from Sunday, with around half of the population fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, helping to control a recent surge in infections.

"Vaccination has contributed very significantly to (allow) these measures... but we cannot ignore the fact that... the virus continues to circulate.... the pandemic has not disappeared," Prime Minister Antonio Costa told a news conference.

Costa also said the compulsory use of masks in crowded outdoor areas would end in the beginning of September and nightclubs and bars, which have been shut since March last year, would be able to reopen the following month.

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