On 21 April 2020, after three new cases of Covid-19 were confirmed, the Government decided to implement the following additional measures:
1. Mandatory daily confinement of the entire population throughout the national territory, from 7:00 PM (except for the specific cases that will be regulated, depending on the nature of some services), under penalty of offence of disobedience for infringers;
2. Reinforcement of military and police patrols as a way of implementing the measures, ensuring social distancing and avoiding gatherings;
3. Obligation of wearing protective masks by all citizens on public roads and all civil servants;
4. Creation of follow-up medical teams exclusively dedicated to infected patients, who should also be isolated from their homes, moving to live in spaces created for this purpose;
5. Funerals and burials may not be held with more than 20 people;
6. Selection, made by the management committee, of merchants for sale on alternate days, as a way to avoid gatherings. Only essential products may be sold on the markets and a sanitary distance must be kept between sellers and customers;
7. Closure of the hay bales’ market: sellers are allowed to sell their products in front of their homes, respecting all health measures in force;
8. On 27 April, an aircraft from Portugal will be sent to São Tomé to transport batches of sanitary materials purchased by the Government;
9. No citizen shall travel from São Tomé to the Island of Príncipe without a Covid-19 flash test.
These measures are expected to enter into force on 24 April 2020 midnight, thus adding to all restrictive measures already in force since the declaration of the State of Emergency.
We will issue an update to this newsflash if there are further developments.
