Portugal’s government has announced new lockdown restrictions from Nov 4 for most of the country, telling people to stay at home except for outings for work, school or shopping, and ordering companies to switch to remote working.

A day after daily coronavirus infections hit a record high, Prime Minister Antonio Costa said the measures would cover 121 municipalities, including the key regions of Lisbon and Porto. According to Reuters, the affected areas are home to about 70 per cent of Portugal’s population of roughly 10 million.

The lockdown list includes municipalities where more than 240 new infections have been registered per 100,000 people for the past 14 days, and will be reviewed every 15 days, Costa said in a televised news conference.