A roadmap for lifting restrictive measures for COVID-19

Abstract

After more than one year of the pandemic, we now know that no single preventive measure affords fully effective control of virus transmission. Therefore, it is vital to combine different approaches to quickly identify the cases, trace their contacts, constantly reduce the risk of transmission, promptly respond to outbreaks or community transmission and monitor the circulating SARS-CoV-2 variants. The updated Strategic Framework presented sets out tools that were used to restore, in a phased approach, normality to life in Portugal on 11 March 2021. Immediate short-term government responses are needed to save lives and livelihoods. However, the crisis could also provide valuable lessons for longer-term resilience of systems that support well-being over time, such as social connections and social capital, opening up new ways of working and living, and reinforcing the capacity of public services and social safety nets to react in times of crisis. Should COVID-19 move to being an endemic or seasonal disease such as influenza, the lessons learned from the response to the pandemic will be helpful in successful containing and preventing new waves of COVID-19.