Following the permanent monitoring of the COVID-19 pandemic situation in the Azores and, specifically, on the island of São Miguel, the Council of the Government of the Azores has decided the following: 

- Extend the state of public disaster declaration, under the terms of the Legal Scheme on the Civil Protection System of the Autonomous Region of the Azores, in the municipality of Nordeste from 12 am of May 4 to 12 am of May 18.

- Extend the decision to establish sanitary cordons in the municipality of Nordeste from 12 am of May 4 to 12 am of May 18. 

These decisions have been previously coordinated and agreed with the Mayor of Nordeste.
 
The grounds for these decisions are the following: 

- The identification, this day, of another four positive cases of infection with the novel coronavirus at the Residential Structure for the Elderly of Santa Casa da Misericórdia of Nordeste; 

- The fact that, after 15 days of service, the shift change took place on April 22, i.e., about a week and a half ago, and that, despite testing negative for COVID-19 prior to ending their shift, these workers are still observing mandatory quarantine at their homes;
 
-  Although there is still no evidence of community transmission in Nordeste and the transmission chain is limited to the aforementioned Residential Structure, this is the safest and most rigorous preventive approach regarding the present situation in this municipality.