Speaking to Lusa agency, regarding outbreaks in homes, Ricardo Mexia stated that this issue should be looked at “very cautiously”.

"The issue of homes is worrisome in the sense that we know that they are the contexts in which we had more severity and more mortality in the past", but, he stressed, the situation "is still very far" from the scenario experienced in January and February, "which was more complicated".

In this sense, the president of the National Association of Public Health Physicians (ANMSP) reiterated that it is necessary to "remain cautious" in relation to the elderly population, which "is quite vulnerable", and defended that, in view of the emergence of cases, it is necessary to be very rapid in testing. But, despite advocating that screening tests be done for covid-19 when cases are identified in homes and probably even in the closest community, the expert said he has doubts about the mass testing at this time. “I don't know to what extent it makes sense to mass test in these contexts at this point. Protection measures have to be maintained, but it is not clear that at this moment this [mass testing] can be very advantageous”, emphasised Ricardo Mexia.