LISBON, Portugal — At the Bairro do Zambujal housing project on the outskirts of Lisbon, the behavior of residents offers clues to why this part of Portugal…
LISBON, Portugal —
At the Bairro do Zambujal housing project on the outskirts of Lisbon, the behavior of residents offers clues to why this part of Portugal has become a hot spot for new COVID-19 cases and how government efforts to stamp out the new coronavirus are being frustrated.
A lot of people in the project that houses about 6,000 people disregard the recommendation from authorities to wear masks, says Maria Felicidade Nunes, president of the local residents’ association.
Some local stores don’t heed rules on how many customers can be inside at one time. Young people huddle in large groups at local cafes, she says.
“Some people are OK with the rules, but others just don’t accept them,” Nunes told The Associated Press.
The four- and five-story apartment blocks that make up Bairro do Zambujal provide low-cost housing for low-income families. They commonly house large families who escape their homes to hang out with local friends and relations.
The project lies in the Amadora district, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) from downtown Lisbon. It is one of five outlying zones in the Lisbon metropolitan area where the number of new virus cases has continued to climb while other parts of Portugal and Europe have seen theirs go down in recent weeks.
For Portugal, the spate of new infections is the elephant in the room as the government touts the country as a safe place for lockdown-weary Europeans to visit.
By moving quickly during the pandemic’s early days, Portugal avoided the exponential rates of infections and deaths reported by other European Union countries, including neighboring Spain.
But since emerging on May 2 from a state of emergency and 45-day lockdown, the country has recorded an average of 275 new cases a day. On Thursday, it reported 311 — 222 of them in the Lisbon metropolitan area.
