Pico do Areeiro road closed by police

JM reports that roads in the inland mountainous regions of Madeira have been closed due to the forecast snowfall, arriving exactly as predicted. The photos below are from a number of sources.

Yesterday the police were asking drivers to make a U-turn, as the road to Pico do Areeiro was closed.

The newspaper ............  ...read more

Regular supplies maintained

JM reports that shipping company Transinsular have said in a recent statement that it will maintain regular supplies to Madeira with a new ship ‘Ilha da Madeira’.

“Several challenges have been imposed in the logistics sector with the COVID-19 pandemic, but Transinsular, a company ............  ...read more

New COVID-19 measures announced for Madeira

The President of the Autonomous Region has completed his much-publicised address to Madeirans ahead of the festive season, outlining the actions taken so far and the new measures to be introduced. Key points include:

• New Years Fireworks to go ahead as planned. This is to be restricted to Funchal, but there will be no amusement park on the seafront and no “Night of the Market”. Bars will close at 1:00 am on New Year’s Eve
• Tests on travellers arriving on the island at the airport will continue, having already cost the Region €7 million
• A “double test” will be introduced from tomorrow, with arrivals remaining in isolation until the results of the second test are known. The President regards this as “essential” to prevent the spread of the disease locally. This will apply to “residents and emigrants” disembarking in the region.
• The President understands that the Region will receive around 200,000 doses of vaccine
• There will be no restrictions on movement between municipalities on the island, as there is on the mainland

The above is a succinct summary, without giving pages of fine print which can be found ............  ...read more

Black Friday sale includes Funchal

As part of its ‘Black Friday’ promotion, easyJet will place100,000 seats on sale to and from Portugal from €24 for trips between 10 December and 30 June 2021.

“This promotion includes destinations that allow both a” getaway “for a few days to Funchal” says the ............  ...read more

… just gone live

Thanks to Maurice for a heads-up about a new webcam that has just gone live in Machico in the last 24 hours.

At the moment it certainly looks very, very quiet there, but a beautiful afternoon with blue skies and the sea even bluer!

The Praia Sao Roque beach and pier are prominent and the old  ............  ...read more

Yesterday’s worrying trend continues

In a rather alarming trend, there are more reports of COVID-19 outbreaks at schools in Madeira this morning, following on from the extended report here yesterday (below):

• One student

New rules apply on the mainland

The mainland edition of JM reports that Portugal has been in a new state of emergency since 00:00 today due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the 278 municipalities on the continent being divided into four groups, depending on the levels of risk of transmission, in a similar system to the “tiers” ............  ...read more