http://dx.doi.org/10.17176/20210304-154039-0 https://staging.verfassungsblog.de/the-response-to-the-covid-19-pandemic-in-portugal-a-success-story-gone-wrong/ The Response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Portugal: A success story gone wrong. Violante, Teresa Lanceiro, Rui T. eng 2021-03-04 electronic resource text/html ddc:342 COVID 19 Portugal Verfassungsblog Verfassungsblog--2366-7044 CC BY-SA 4.0 Following an initial comparatively successful handling of the pandemic, infection numbers began increasing consistently after September in Portugal and reached an alarming rate at the beginning of 2021. A second lockdown started on January 14, 2021, with record infection and mortality rates and the National Health Service near breakdown. On 21 January, the measures were tightened and included the closure of schools and universities. A year later, Portugal is back to square one, and, as the failure to control the growth of the pandemic seems evident, medical and moral despair dominate. The impact of the restrictions on the freedom of movement contributed to a decline in the country’s overall score of The Economist’s Democracy Index 2020, that now qualifies it as a “democracy with flaws”.