Portugal bars entry of 3,000 people at land borders amid pandemic

Portugal's Foreigners and Borders Service (SEF) said on Friday that it had prevented about 3,000 people from entering its land borders due to the COVID-19 pandemic, in an operation that reached approximately 500,000 people in the last two and a half months.

With the collaboration of the National Republican Guard (GNR), another 15 people were also detained at Authorized Crossing Points (PPA) with Spain, SEF said in an official statement.

The PPA with the largest movement of people was that of Valenca, where over 200,000 people were handled, followed by that of Caia, with around 70,000, and Vilar Formoso, with 60,000.

The control of land borders with Spain has been in effect since 23:00 on March 16 at nine authorized crossing points and will remain closed until 00:00 on June 15.

According to the SEF, tourist and leisure travel between the two countries is prevented, with only the transport of goods, cross-border workers, seasonal workers, emergency and rescue vehicles and emergency services being allowed.

The Directorate-General for Health (DGS) announced 14 more deaths of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, bringing the country's total deaths to 1,383. The number of infected people increased by 350 to 31,946 in total.