In fight against COVID-19, Portugal continues to cautiously ease lockdown

FILE PHOTO: A man hangs football scarves in a store on the first day of the reopening after a country lockdown, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Lisbon, Portugal, April 5, 2021. REUTERS/Pedro Nunes

LISBON (Reuters) - Most Portuguese regions will enter the third phase of easing the COVID-19 lockdown next week, but stricter rules will stay in place in municipalities where transmission rates remain high, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said on Thursday.

"These set of measures are neither prizes nor punishments," Antonio Costa told a news conference. "They are public health measures for the safety of the population, of people."