President welcomes UK decision of taking Portugal of quarantine

Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa has welcomed as "great news" UK's decision to lift from Saturday mandatory quarantine for travellers arriving from Portugal.

British authorities me anuncement on Thursday, ding Portugal to a "safe list" of destinations.

sourn European country is reporting between 200 to 300 new daily cases this week, although spre of contagion seems to have receded since early July.

Rebelo de Sousa, who is on a work holiday tour visiting all Portuguese regions to show his support for tourism sector, told reporters on Thursday that move will benefit tourism industry, especially in sourn Algarve region where he expects that UK citizens will make bookings for late summer season in September and October.

president said that measure would also benefit some 300,000 Portuguese citizens who live and work in UK.

Algarve in sourn Portugal is one of favourite destinations for British tourists.

Portugal acted swiftly in pandemic's early days but experienced significant clusters when it ended its lockdown.

Since beginning of pandemic, country has recorded nearly 55,000 infections and 1,788 fatalities attributed to virus.