A fake document circulating on WhatsApp has claimed to show Portugal s latest plans for lifting its COVID-19 lockdown.
The government of Prime Minister António Costa has said the image is false and has filed a complaint with the public prosecutor. Portugal introduced a national lockdown on January 15, which remains in place.
The misleading file began spreading on social networks on Thursday, including via the popular WhatsApp messaging platform.
An image showed a table of dates with some pandemic restrictions supposedly lifted by May, alongside the official logo of the Portuguese government.
But authorities say the file was a version of their 2020 deconfinement plan, which had been misappropriated and tampered with by third parties.
The good news came hours after grim data showing the once-booming tourism sector suffered its worst results since the mid-1980s last year as the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns worldwide grounded flights and kept visitors away. There were 90 more deaths from COVID-19 reported on Monday, the first daily toll below 100 since early January, while the tally of new infections was down to 1,303, the lowest level seen since late December.
(Adds COVID-19 data, vaccination update)
LISBON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The number of new daily COVID-19 deaths in Portugal fell to its lowest level in around six weeks on Monday, with infections also declining, adding to evidence that an alarming post-Christmas surge in the coronavirus pandemic is slowing.
The good news came hours after grim data showing the once-booming tourism sector suffered its worst results since the mid-1980s last year as the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns worldwide grounded flights and kept visitors away.
There were 90 more deaths from COVID-19 reported on Monday, the first daily toll below 100 since early January, while the tally of new infections was down to 1,303, the lowest level seen since late December.