"We are going to enter into a different moment, with a different set of measures, which must be correctly interpreted," said Adão de Almeida during the presentation of the new rules on the second extension of the state of emergency which began on 27 March.
He added that "if they are 15 days of success" there will be "conditions to continue with the easing of measures and opening of normal activity in the country".
For the minister, the easing of restrictions requires a "very strong individual accountability domain".
"We'll have more people moving around, more interpersonal contact and the success of these 15 days depends a lot on the ability to observe the rules", warned Adão de Almeida, giving as an example the mandatory wearing of interpersonal protection masks in certain circumstances.
The minister also pointed out that the government has opted for new rules at this stage of the state of emergency, because it considers there are "minimum conditions to lighten the weight of some measures, in a responsible manner", to allow the economic activity of the country not to be too damaged.
On access to telecommunications data, one of the novelties of the presidential decree extending the state of emergency, Adão de Almeida stressed that, according to the Constitution, "under normal conditions" it would not be possible to access this information, which is only due to the exceptional situation of the covid-19 pandemic.
"We are concerned about a specific group of citizens who are in home quarantine and may be moving freely around the city", he said.
In this context, "regulatory authorities will be able to interact with operators to request such data and to trace these citizens", these supporting elements being "exclusively related to suspicious cases or their contacts".
On a global level, according to AFP, the covid-19 pandemic has already caused more than 200,000 deaths and infected more than 2.7 million people in 193 countries and territories. More than 720,000 patients have been considered cured.
The disease is transmitted by a new coronavirus detected at the end of December in Wuhan, a city in central China.
