Month: November 2020

Heavy rain possible

Following on from a previous post reporting a week of bad weather ahead, Peter has kindly sent a link to the Spanish website  ............  ...read more

Huge increase in residency applications

The British Government’s notices to its citizens resident in Portugal have appeared everywhere recently, especially online, whether in a podcast by the Economist magazine, in an advertisement on Twitter, Facebook, Google or Instagram. The Brexit-related bureaucracy has to be completed by 31 ............  ...read more

Local transmission on the ascendancy

The last two days have confirmed a worrying, but not yet alarming, trend in the COVID-19 statistics released in the daily bulletins from the Institute of Health Administration IASAÚDE

Yesterday Madeira had 15 new cases of covid-19, 11 of which were locally transmitted. There were 4 imported cases ............  ...read more

… as bad weather forecast to return again

Tomorrow’s sailing of the Porto Santo ferry has been brought forward to 1:00 pm in anticipation of worsening weather.

The Portuguese Weather Institute, IPMA, have forecasted (below) that between tomorrow ............  ...read more

Christmas light details

FN report that the Christmas lights in the centre of Funchal and surrounding areas, will be switched on the December 1 and will remain until January 11th, 2021, keeping the tradition alive, despite the COVID-19 pandemic.

“There is no tourism, but the lighting will have a very positive psychological ............  ...read more

New campaign launched – video

The Diario reported last night that the Madeira Promotion Association (APM) had announced that it will launch a new campaign to publicize the island to mark its award as the World’s Best Island Destination, for the sixth consecutive time, at the World Travel Awards (WTA ). I guess somebody must ............  ...read more

Madeira awarded title for 6th year running

Madeira won the World Travel Awards for the sixth consecutive year as the ‘World’s Leading Island Destination’. It took the best over 20 destinations from all continents.

In the race with Madeira for this award now won were: Ambergris Caye (Belize), Bali (Indonesia), Barbados ............  ...read more

Only the fireworks escape restriction – full details

JM reports that the Government Council, meeting in plenary session yesterday, approved the resolution that embodies the measures announced the previous day, in a video press conference, by the president of the Regional Government of Madeira.

The resolution, to be published yesterday in JORAM, will ............  ...read more

The Diario reports that the Captain of the Port of Funchal has extended further the warning o heavy sease, particularly on the north coast, where waves could reach a height of 6 metres.

The Portuguese Weather Institute, IPMA, are warniing of a very strong and cool wind from the North/Northwest.

Waves ............  ...read more

“Cold” weather mass dominates

The Diario reports that according to the forecast of the Portuguese Weather Institute, IPMA, today will see periods of heavy clouds and rain in Madeira , with more frequent and intense showers in the northern ............  ...read more

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

“Test to release” scheme

Various sources report this morning on the UK’s government plans to cut the amount of time that international travellers arriving from ‘high risk’ countries have to quarantine by up to two thirds with a new “test to release” program that is set to come into force from December 15.

Given ............  ...read more

Monday morning sees numerous cases

Reports of outbreaks of COVID-19 and associated confinements in various schools on the island seem to be coming thick and fast this morning.

• Twelve employees of the Professional School of Hotel and Tourism of Madeira are in isolation, following the positive result of a teacher.
• Following the positive result of a family member close to two students at a school in Sao Martinho, two classes (36 students) are in confinement. The information was confirmed this morning by the Regional Secretariat for Education, Science, and Technology.
• A student from Externato Apresentação de Maria tested positive for covid-19. According to the Regional Secretariat of Education, although this student has not attended the establishment since November 13, a class (of 23 students) will be confined until otherwise indicated by the health authorities. Two other students tested negative, but two classes (a total of 45 students) and two teachers are also preventively confined until otherwise indicated by the health authorities.
• A professor at the Francisco Franco School (above) is in confinement, suspected of having contracted COVID-19, and is currently awaiting the results of the test that has already been carried out. The information has already been transmitted to the professor’s students, and if it is confirmed to be a positive case, the contingency plan will be triggered and remote classes will be scheduled.
• Following the positive result of a teacher, two students, three employees and four EB23 teachers Dr. Eduardo Brazão de Castroe are in confinement, until otherwise indicated by the health authorities.

This last case was the fifth school in the Region affected today by the covid-19 pandemic. Nice to see that JM follows this blog and reported on the spate of ............  ...read more

Christmas “getaway” from Jersey threatened

JM reported recently that the confinement in England, which is not being applied in Jersey, could indirectly damage the Christmas ‘getaway’ to Madeira from the community residing on this channel island. The usual “Going ............  ...read more

Azores take firmer action than Madeira

Thanks to Peter for a link to a report from the Azores, where two more schools were closed on the island of São Miguel. The Azorean authorities have been acting very quickly recently when there is a positive case of COVID-19 found in a school.

Yesterday the Azores recorded more than double  ............  ...read more

Lights ready to be switched on

JM reports on the installation of Christmas illuminations, under the responsibility of the company LuxStar – already reported here – is progressing at a good pace and, this weekend, there are already areas where they are being tested.

This is the case of decoration on the Ribeiro Sêco ............  ...read more

… forecast for later this week

The Diario leads on a story that a couple of readers have sent in, with the weather predicted to decline later this week. The newspaper even predicts that snow could even make its first appearance of this autumn/winter season on the high peaks.

Since the rain of last weekend, maximum temperatures have ............  ...read more