Lisbon, Jul 10 (IANS): Portugal has mandated the use of the European Union's (EU) Digital Covid Certificate or proof of a negative coronavirus test while checking-in in hotels and other holiday accommodations across the country as per the decision of the Council of Ministers.

In municipalities with a high Covid-19 incidence, the same requirement applies from 7 p.m. on Fridays and on weekends to customers who wish to dine indoors in restaurants, reports Xinhua news agency.

In a statement issued on Friday, Mariana Vieira da Silva, Minister of State for the Presidency, said that PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and antigen tests with laboratory results will be accepted and self-tests will also be available in the presence of a health professional.

The EU Digital Covid Certificate is available for free online to any citizen or resident of the bloc who has already been vaccinated or already contracted the disease and recovered.

At the same time, the Portuguese authorities have revoked the ban on entering and leaving the Lisbon Metropolitan Area on weekends.

This week, the Council of Ministers re-assessed the country's sanitary conditions and announced the new measures "taking into account the spread of the coronavirus infection in Portugal", said an official government statement.

The daily average of new Covid-19 cases rose 54 per cent in the past seven days, which led the government to extend the "state of calamity" in Portugal until July 25.

According to the health authorities, Portugal has registered 899,295 Covid-19 cases since the start of the pandemic in March 2020, while the death toll stood at 17,135.