Mariana Vieira da Silva added that the measures will only be decided upon after the meeting with experts, scheduled for Friday.

Questioned by journalists, the minister did not want to commit to concrete measures to be adopted to deal with the increase in cases of Covid-19 or with restrictions that may come into effect during the Christmas and New Year holidays.

“The measures that are considered necessary are on the table in order not to let the number of cases grow. In view of the number of cases, today we have fewer hospitalisations, fewer deaths than in the past when we had with these numbers. It is now necessary to know what measures are needed. We do not foresee measures with a level and with the severity that have already been taken in the past, because the population is more protected, but we will not fail to take the necessary measures”, said the minister.

Regarding the statements made by the President of the Republic, who considered the need to return to the mandatory use of masks in the street as a protective measure as "evident", Mariana Vieira da Silva said that what she heard Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa say was the need to wait for the opinion of the experts.

“It seems evident that, given the increase in the number of cases, we have to take more measures. We need to listen to the experts. Now let's hear the experts to see what measures have to be taken and we will take the measures”, she said.

The Government has scheduled a new meeting at Infarmed for Friday, from which it hopes to gather information so that the Council of Ministers can decide what measures should be adopted, but it will do so "in its time" while also listening to the political parties, stressed Mariana Vieira da Silva.

“We live in a situation where it is important that there is a broad national commitment to these measures and that is what we are working on. We will have time to talk about measures. Now is the time to work, with experts first, political parties later, to take the necessary steps. What the Government guarantees, as it has always guaranteed, is that it will never fail to take the measures deemed necessary”, she said.