(Bloomberg) --
Portugal's containment measures to face the coronavirus outbreak will have to remain in place this month so that the country can take steps in May for schools and businesses to “progressively return to normal,” President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa said.
“We need to ask for an additional effort in the rest of April to be able to turn the page at the end of the month,” Rebelo de Sousa told reporters in Lisbon on Tuesday after attending a presentation about the outbreak.
Read more: Italy Weighs Steps to Join Europe's Cautious Virus Reopening
The government last week announced it will tighten measures in the April 9-13 period to limit movement during the country's Easter holiday weekend, closing airports and banning travel between municipalities. While there's been slower growth in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Portugal, the president has extended the state of emergency for another two weeks through April 17.
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