Dear Editor,
I just read Natasha Donn’s interesting comments (‘British bilge trashes Portugal’s summer – comment’). They’re very fair about Portugal from a British subject also as an Algarve resident. And I would add that UK authorities were even more unfair with regards to Madeira, including it in rules for Portugal!
I recommend you look at the Madeira government site www.covidmadeira.pt, which will enable you to compare our experience with mainland Portugal and Algarve. As an island, of course, it is not as challenging dealing with a pandemic.
If you happen to have followed our situation, you will no doubt be aware of how the authorities here accomplished something rather impressive compared to many other islands, i.e. quarantine measures from March to June despite central government!
And current rules since July 1, when airport reopened without the previous two-week compulsory quarantine rules in designated hotels. But now stringent testing, tracking and tracing rules resulting in excellent statistics – 15 new imported cases in July added to previous 90 in all, with no deaths, 95 recovered, 10 still active in strict quarantine out of a total of 105 cases over the last four months.
David Fiske de Gouveia
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